The 15th meeting of the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) was held in Nicosia from 27 November to 1 December 2006, attended by representatives of 29 administrations and various organisations.
As the agenda was very full, covering a wide range of subjects, it was deemed necessary to work in parallel plenary sessions.
The following measures were approved (final decision) at this plenary meeting:
- Decision ECC/DEC/(06)07 concerning the ''harmonised use of airborne GSM systems in the frequency bands 1710-1785 MHz and 1805-1880 MHz'';
- Decision ECC/DEC/(06)08 concerning the ''conditions for use of ground and wall probing radar (GPR/WPR) imaging systems'';
- Decision ECC/DEC/(06)09 concerning the ''designation of the bands 1980-2010 MHz and 2170-2200 MHz for use by systems in mobile satellite service (MSS) including those supplemented by a complementary ground component(CGC)'';
- Decision ECC/DEC/(06)10 on ''transitional arrangements for the fixed service and tactical radio relay systems in the bands 1980-2010 MHz and 2170-2200 MHz in order to facilitate the harmonised introduction and development of systems in mobile satellite service including those supplemented by a complementary ground component'';
- Decision ECC/DEC/(06)12 on ''harmonised conditions for devices using ultra-wideband (UWB) technology with low duty cycle (LDC) in the frequency band 3.4-4.8 GHz''; and
- Decision ECC/DEC/(06)13 concerning the ''designation of the bands 880-915 MHz, 925-960 MHz, 710-1785 MHz and 1805-1880 MHz for terrestrial IMT- 2000/UMTS systems''.
Also approved, but for public consultation, was the proposed ECC Decision on the ''availability of frequency bands between 3400-3800 MHz for the harmonised implementation of broadband wireless access systems (BWA)''.
Approved as well were the following ECC Recommendations:
- Recommendation ECC(06) 05 on the ''provision of information on the progress of implementation of the mobile satellite systems which are candidates to use the 1980-2010 MHz and 2170-2200 MHz MSS frequency bands''; and
- Recommendation ECC(06)04 on ''use of the band 5725-5875 MHz for Broadband Fixed Wireless Access (BFWA)''.
ECC report no. 94 on the ''technical requirements for UWB LDC devices to ensure protection of FWA systems'' was also approved. As for the report from the Regulatory Affairs working group (WG RA) on pending issues concerning the potential ''phased introduction'' of UWB equipment in the 4.2-4.8 GHz frequency band, a subject debated at length in the two previous ECC meetings, it was once again not possible, after the presentation of similar arguments, to obtain a majority for or against this solution: 13 administrations supported the production of a Decision for this band that includes the ''phased approach'', while 10 were against same. Bearing in mind that a decision in the same context is being developed by the Radio Spectrum Committee of the European Commission (EC), the ECC thus decided to only inform the Commission that it is absolutely vital for that EC draft Decision to include a set cut-off date, and that that date should be 1 January 2010.
The current status of the EC mandates was reviewed, specifically on ''points 1 and 3 of the WAPECS (wireless access platforms for electronic communications services) mandate'', the ''mandate on broadband wireless access (BWA)'', the ''third mandate on ultra-wideband (UWB) technology'', the ''mandate on intelligent transportation systems (ITS)'', and the permanent mandate on short range devices (SRD).
Regarding the new EC mandates, associated to questions from the ITU 2006 Regional Radiocommunications Conference (RRC-06), one on ''multimedia services in the 1.5 GHz band'' and the other (still not received) on the ''digital dividend'', the ECC decided after much debate to set up two groups to prepare the respective replies: ECC TG4 for the ''digital dividend'' and a project team (PT) from the Frequency Management working group (WG FM), designated FM PT45, for ''multimedia services in the 1.5 GHz band'', which should begin their work as soon as possible.
Preparation of the reply to the new mandate on MCA (mobile communication on board aircraft) was assigned to the Spectrum Engineering working group (ECC WG SE).
As for the proposal from the Numbering, Names and Addressing working group (WG NNA) to produce a new Decision on the ''integrity of identifiers transmitted across networks'', the ECC decided to ask WG NNA to begin debate on this subject, to better ascertain the need for a Decision versus a Recommendation. The WG RA proposal to draw up a Decision on ''GSM on board vessels'' was accepted and the work distributed among the RA and SE groups.
A number of other questions were also debated/decided, specifically:
- The need for Decisions on free circulation;
- Revision of Decisions and a procedure to ''eliminate decisions'';
- The need to define a ?decision process? by electronic means;
- Concept of ''undesired emissions'';
- The need for more clarification in the Commission final Decision or in the prior resolution of pending problems involving the ''harmonised European short code 116'', between the Commission and the ECC;
- Remaining questions from project team PT7: despite recognising the need to have a small group to debate ECC strategy questions, a decision was made to dissolve PT7 in this phase and to return to the issue at the next meeting. Questions concerning the rules of procedure (RoP) and working methods (WM) were passed over to WG RA. Also approved was a WG RA proposal to alter the RoP and WM for final approval at the next ECC meeting, basically with the aim that any proposed Decision should be submitted in an initial phase (or, at most, when placed in public consultation) to WG RA consideration in order to ensure its coherence;
- The current status of the questions on frequency use between the Commission on Radio-Astronomy Frequencies (CRAF) and the Iridium Satellite company: methods to measure CDMA (code division multiple access)/TDMA (time division multiple access) sharing and interference.
Also examined at this meeting were the reports from all the ECC working groups, namely the CPG (WRC-07 preparation), PT2-TRIS PT9 (Maritime Issues), WG FM (Frequency Management), WG RA (Regulatory Affairs), WG SE (Spectrum Engineering), WG NNA (Numbering, Names and Addressing) and ECC PT1 (IMT-2000). The participants were informed about the Recommendations and Reports produced and approved by the groups which have meanwhile been published; a proposed change in the WG NNA mandate was also released, but will require more formalisation.
Given that the procedures to reappoint some working group heads were not applied, as envisaged in the RoP, specifically those of WG FM, WG NNA and ECC/PT1, the ECC agreed to extend those appointments until the next meeting. The positions up for decision at the next meeting include the chairs of PT2 and TG3, besides those mentioned above.
The next ECC meeting will be held in Krakow, Poland, next 26-30 March.
