The 17th meeting of project team PT1, in charge of all issues concerning the evolution of IMT-2000 and systems beyond, was held on 9-12 May in Biel, Switzerland. Its mission is to co-ordinate European contributions and related positions on spectrum, regulatory and sharing/ compatibility questions in the scope of the group on IMT-2000 and Other Systems (WP 8F) of the Radiocommunications Sector of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R).
Worthy of note its this group's responsibility for preparing CEPT positions on items 1.4 and 1.9 of the World Radiocommunications Conference (WRC07).
The most discussed issue at this meeting concerned revision of ERC/DEC(99)25 'Harmonised Use of Spectrum for IMT-2000/ UMTS Earth Systems Operating in the 1900-1980 MHz, 2010-2025 MHz and 2110-2170 MHz Bands'. The United Kingdom submitted a proposal to revise that decision, proposing changes in spectrum use in the 1900-1920 MHz and 2010-2025 MHz sub-bands. It also included the possibility of allowing the use of other mobile systems beyond IMT-2000/ UMTS in all the sub-bands covered in the decision. This last aspect was especially controversial, with most countries coming out against this principle. The revision of this decision is expected to be completed at the next meeting.
The European positions on items 1.4 and 1.9 of the WRC07 agenda were also revised and updated. Noteworthy was the debate on bands to be studied for eventual use in future IMT-2000 systems (item 1.4), specifically in bands below 1 GHz; no sub-band has been identified as of yet.
