The 53rd meeting of ECC project team 1 (ECC PT1) on International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) was held last 12-16 September in Budapest, chaired by Steve Green of the United Kingdom. The nearly 100 participants included representatives of administrations, the European Communications Office (ECO), the European Commission (EC), operators and manufacturers, among others.
ECC PT1 is responsible for all issues concerning IMT. Among other aspects, its mission is to develop harmonisation measure for bands identified for the IMT system, including respective channels and technical conditions, to conduct sharing/compatibility studies and to coordinate European positions within the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R). It will also lead the preparation of CEPT’s position with respect to 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19) questions concerning additional spectrum for mobile/IMT systems (5G systems).
CEPT Report 63 and ECC Decision (06)07 were notably finalised at this meeting and respectively concern mobile communications on board vessels and mobile communications on board aircraft. It was concluded that implementation of the network control unit on board aircraft will only be necessary when the protection of third generation systems is at stake. ECC PT1 also finalised a report on the 3.6-3.8 GHz band which analyses the possibility of coexistence between mobile systems and incumbent systems in the 3.6-3.8 GHz band, e.g. fixed service and fixed satellite service. Also notable was the revision of the recommendations concerning various bands with mobile systems (900/1800 MHz, 800 MHz and 2.5 GHz), which will now be subject to public consultation.
Also noteworthy is that work to prepare for WRC-19 is ongoing, particularly concerning item 1.13, which aims to identify frequency bands for future IMT development, including possible additional allocations for primary mobile service.
