Copenhagen hosted last 29 August the first extraordinary meeting of the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC), which had been decided on at the last ECC plenary session (held in Ireland on 3-7 July) following discussion on the Decision prepared by project team 1 (ECC PT1) concerning ?designation of the 880-915 MHz, 925-960 MHz, 1710-1785 MHz and 1805-1880 MHz bands for terrestrial IMT-2000/UMTS systems?.
This Decision?s eventual subjection, or not, to public consultation was expected to be the main point of the meeting. To that end some administrations (Austria and Italy), not represented at the meeting, sent in contributions indicating that they wanted to see the Decision pass into the public consultation phase.
The discussion following presentation of the Decision focused on aspects such as flexibility, technological neutrality and the WAPECS (wireless access platforms for electronic communications services) concept, raised mainly by the United Kingdom, in an attempt to ?postpone? any eventual decision on the subject. A clear majority of the administrations (including Portugal) held that it was important for this Decision to move on to consultation. With a view to achieving a compromise, it was agreed that the decision needed some changes, in order to take into account the above mentioned aspects. The agreed changes to the Decision hence concern the introduction of:
- An additional paragraph in the introductory text explaining the meaning of ?designate? as per the ECC Rules of Procedure;
- An additional ?whereas? and amendment of one of the ?decides? in order to make clear that this Decision can be revised taking into account the results of the studies on WAPECS now beginning.
Besides this, and bearing in mind the Decision?s public consultation, a small text was drawn up to preface the Decision, which asks the administrations to indicate their position on the respective date of implementation. This is related to the fact that it is not entirely clear whether the introduction of UMTS in those bands is in line with the GSM Directive (Directive (87/372/ECC).
In conclusion, agreement was reached that the Decision with the aforementioned amendments will be subject to public consultation until this coming 30 October. If there are comments on same, ECC PT1 should resolve the eventual questions by 10 November, so that the (reworked) Decision can be presented at the ECC meeting (in Nicosia, from 27 November to 1 December). To that end, ECC PT1 has scheduled a meeting for this coming 8-9 November.
