The Portuguese city of Tavira hosted last 11-13 April the 25th meeting of project team 1 of the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC PT1), attended by 96 participants, representing administrations, operators, manufacturers, the European Radiocommunications Office (ERO), the European Commission, the UMTS Forum, Intel and the WiMax Forum, among others. PT1 covers all issues concerning the future evolution of IMT-2000 and systems beyond (now designated as IMT), and co-ordinates European contributions and their positions on spectrum, regulatory and sharing/compatibility issues under WP8F of the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunications Sector (ITU-R). Particularly noteworthy is this group's responsibility for preparing European positions for items 1.4 and 1.9 of the 2007 World Radiocommunications Conference (WRC-07).
Work is under way in parallel in three subgroups: Spectrum Issues, Sharing/Compatibility and CEPT Activities associated with IMT-Advanced.
The most outstanding matters in the Spectrum Issues subgroup have to do with the production of a Brief and European common proposals (ECPs) for item 1.4, especially the identification of candidate bands for IMT - future evolution of IMT-2000 and systems beyond.
In way of a context, note that according to studies carried out under ITU-R, by around 2015/2020 the amount of additional spectrum needed for IMT has been estimated at between 600 MHz and 1 GHz, given the spectrum already identified (in use) for mobile systems - including the GSM and UMTS bands. On the other hand, given the technical conditions for implementing IMT, it was decided that the main requirement in terms of bands would be below 5 GHz.
An exercise was thus carried out in ITU-R vis-à-vis the bands to be investigated, with the conclusion that the following ones should be subject to more detailed analysis:
- 410-430 MHz
- 450-470 MHz
- 470-862MHz
- 2300-2400 MHz
- 2700-2900 MHz
- 3400-4200 MHz
- 4400-4990 MHz
According to the results of the Conference Preparatory Group (CPG), a decision was made, in sum, to ask ECC PT1 to produce an ECP for the 470-862 MHz band, bearing in mind option B2, which proposes No Change (NOC) for this band in article 5 of the Radio Regulation (RR), as well as a Resolution proposing studies to ascertain a future identification for Region 1 of the band, or part of same, for mobile systems including IMT at WRC-2011. The CPG also asked ECC PT1 to examine options B1 and B3 (options aiming to allocate at WRC-07 spectrum for mobile service; the B1 option passes on to WRC-11 the identification of relevant spectrum for IMT, while option B3 means to do that at WRC-07).
On the other hand, ECC PT1 was also asked to produce an ECP for the 3400-3600 MHz and 3600-3800 MHz bands, bearing in mind that the 3800-4200 MHz band may be studied more thoroughly to determine a more definitive position of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT). The CPG also asked ECC PT1 to evaluate the possibility of producing an ECP for the 450-470 MHz frequency band.
To prepare for this meeting, the Administrations were once again asked to provide their opinions on bands that might be used for IMT, specifically the bands mentioned above. However, the relevant contributions presented at this meeting were not discussed, with the corresponding debate passed on to the CPG, should the respective authors so desire.
Regarding the development of common proposals, note:
- In the case of the 470-862 MHz broadcasting band (part of the 'digital dividend'), the ECP which proposes NOC in article 5 of the RR, as well as a Resolution asking ITU-R to produce a study on the band?s potential use. Note that Portugal has expressed its support for the B2 position, for which this ECP was specifically produced;
- Regarding the 3.4-3.8 GHz band, an ECP was also produced, with major support from various countries for identifying this band for IMT. Indeed, this ECP identifies IMT as a (primary) mobile service application, while recognising the need to protect fixed satellite service (FSS) earth stations from eventual IMT interference. Regarding this sub-band, Portugal had previously indicated that as various points were still open (CEPT Decision for BWA, compatibility studies, BWA convergence with mobile systems, public consultation on the issue), it did not have the conditions to take a final position on the subject, though in principle it has no problems with this ECP;
- Regarding the 450-470 MHz band, the Russian Federation presented a contribution proposing the production of a ''positive'' ECP; Vodafone complemented same with a few more items. However, there was no support from ECC PT1 for the production of an ECP to present to the CPG;
- The revision of a Resolution (225) and an ECP clarifying the frequency bands available for the IMT satellite component.
Parallel to this, the Brief for item 1.4 was updated basically to bring the text into line with the result of the previous discussion and also to ''shorten'' the existing text.
In the Sharing and Compatibility subgroup, the most debated topic concerned the Liaison Statement of the group from the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) on broadband radio access networks (BRAN), indicating that a harmonised standard was being developed for the 2.5 GHz band, called Broadband Data Transmission (BDT). Note that this system's development comes parallel to IMT (also developed in ETSI), thus raising questions about the way to introduce such systems, particularly of a technical nature, i.e., what measures are needed to ensure that both systems can co-exist. The debate resulted in two views: on the one hand, the mentors of the BDT system (based on WiMAX), to the effect that there is no need to carry out any studies on sharing and compatibility with IMT; and on the other, the view that the studies should begin right away, thus guaranteeing that BDT will not interfere with the IMT system.
After a long and hard debate, it was concluded that ECC PT1 should ask ETSI for more parameters on the BDT system, so that a decision can be made at the next meeting on the effective need for sharing and compatibility studies. A decision was also made to report on progress in developing the harmonised standard for the 2.5 GHz band to the PT SE 42 group, which is studying the WAPECS (wireless access policy for electronic communications services) bands (in which this band is included).
Also noteworthy in this subgroup are:
- Revision of the ECP (and corresponding Brief) on item 1.9 of WRC-07, particularly emphasising that the provision of RR 9.19 should not be applied to co-ordinate (envisaged by 9.19) satellite broadcasting systems with other systems (in this case IMT systems in the 2520-2670 band). Such facilitates the development of IMT systems in the 2.5 GHz band, thus avoiding the constant need for co-ordination;
- Progress in work on the Recommendation that will enable cross-border co-ordination of UMTS and GSM in the 900 and 1800 MHz bands; plans call for it to be finalised in June. This question follows on the possibility of operating UMTS systems in those bands;
- Regarding the studies under way in WP8F, especially on sharing fixed satellite service with IMT, CEPT will propose revisions considering various kinds of technical and regulatory clarifications. As there was not enough time to finish this document during the meeting, a correspondence group was set up with the aim, among others, of revising/correcting the data from the earth stations in each country. Some countries, including Portugal, indicated the need for that correction, considering that the data now contained in the document does not correspond to reality.
Lastly, regarding CEPT activities associated with IMT-Advanced, the subgroup responsible for this matter worked on the contributions to be sent to WP8F, basically the requirements and the way the new radio interfaces should be evaluated vis-à-vis IMT-Advanced, specifically bearing in mind the technical criteria meant to serve as the basis for that evaluation.
The next meeting of ECC PT1, the last before WRC-07, will be held on 27-29 June in Budapest.
