Athens hosted last 4-6 September the 49th meeting of WG FM project team 44 (PT44) on satellite communications.
The meeting was chaired by France and attended by 21 delegates from 10 administrations, along with several representatives from the European Communications Office (ECO) and industry.
The following stand out among the various issues considered:
- revision of ECC decisions based on the conclusions of ECC Report 272;
- discussion of results from the public consultation on Decision ECC/DEC/(13)01 on Earth stations on board mobile platforms (ESOMP) operating with GSO satellites in the Ka band;
- ECC draft decision on aircraft Earth stations (AES) operating in the 12.75-13.25 GHz band;
- operations via satellite for machine-to-machine/internet of things (M2M/IoT).
Regarding the first point, the proposed revisions of eight ECC decisions concerning exemption of individual licensing for Earth stations were discussed, based on the conclusions of ECC Report 272, the aim being to remove geographical restrictions (distances to airports) imposed based on the previous ECC Report 66. The eight revised decisions were approved and will be submitted to WG FM for approval and launch of public consultation.
Also discussed were results of the public consultation on Decision ECC/DEC/(13)01. Comments were received from the Spanish and British administrations, with a solution reached for each comment received. Decision ECC/DEC/(13)01 will therefore be submitted to WG FM for adoption and subsequent forwarding to the ECC for final approval and publication.
Finally, the drafts of the ECC report on satellite operations for M2M/IoT and the ECC decision on AES operating in the 12.75-13.25 GHz band were discussed and revised, although they must still be improved so they can be submitted to WG FM for approval.
The 50th meeting is scheduled to take place this coming 17-19 December.
