The Radio Spectrum Policy Committee (RSPG) met last 11-12 January in Brussels, mainly to study responses to the public consultation concerning the RSPG Opinion on the Digital Dividend and to make changes in the proposed Opinion, if appropriate.
The responses were examined based on a summary prepared by the RSPG secretariat. However, the response from the United Kingdom (Ofcom) was not included, as it was deemed to have a different nature and should be seen when the proposals to amend the Opinion are considered. Even though the summary is quite complete, some information considered relevant was added. The result of this work will be an informative document and the conclusions will be included in the Opinion.
The main conclusions of the responses received indicate that each group defends its specific interests. It may nevertheless be stated that all respondents support the existence of the ?Opinion? ? for example, the broadcasters think the dividend will in principle be limited to advanced services somehow related to broadcasting, while the telecommunication operators hold that a sub-band for fixed/mobile services beyond mobile telephony should be identified at all cost. For this reason there are evidently not many arguments arising from those responses that justify major changes. Also noteworthy is that the only argument not in fact included in the opinion concerns microphone emitters and SAP/SAB services, for them to be taken into account in those bands.
During the course of the meeting the ?Opinion? was subject to point-by-point examination and a number of changes were made. It was clear that some countries might decide not to implement mobile/fixed services in eventually identified sub-bands, that the dividend?s use should be decided on a national basis and that the decisions to make on identifying sub-bands should not be mandatory.
Even though the question of mobile service allocation will be debated more extensively at the 2007 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-07) or at the 2011 conference (WRC-11), it was also scheduled for the next RSPG meeting.
