The 51st meeting of project team 44 (PT44) on satellite communications of the Frequency Management working group (WG FM) was held last 17-19 December in the Hague, attended by 27 participants from twelve administrations along with various representatives from industry and the European Communications Office (ECO).
The meeting considered various issues, among which the following agenda points stand out:
- Discussion of results of the public consultation on revising ECC decisions based on the conclusions of ECC Report 272;
- Draft ECC decision on aircraft earth stations operating in the 12.75-13.25 GHz band;
- Operations via satellite for machine-to-machine/internet of things (M2M/IoT).
The results of the public consultation on proposals to revise eight ECC decisions concerning individual licence exemption of earth stations based on the conclusions of ECC Report 272 were discussed, the aim being to remove the imposed geographic restrictions (distances to airports) based on the previous ECC Report 66. The eight revised decisions were approved and will be submitted to WG FM so they can be adopted and then forwarded to the ECC for final approval and publication.
Also discussed and reviewed were the draft ECC report on operations via satellite for M2M/IoT and the draft ECC decision on aircraft earth stations operating in the 17.75-13.25 GHz band. At this meeting that decision was also extended to cover terminals that communicate with non-geostationary satellite (NGSO) networks. The documents will be presented at the next WG FM meeting, even though they are not finished.
Lastly, agreement was reached to propose to WG FM the creation of a new working item associated to the revision of Decision ECC/DEC/(15)04 on NGSO ESOMP in the Ka band, so as to also include earth stations on mobile platforms (ESOMP) installed in aircraft.
The next meeting should be held on 14-16 May 2019. A web-meeting has been scheduled for 24 January 2019 to discuss the draft ECC report on M2M via satellite.
