WRC-2003WRC-2003

Mike Goddard Spectrum Policy and International Director

Radiocommunications Agency

Mike Goddard Spectrum Policy and International Director

Radiocommunications Agency

OutlineOutline

• WRCs and the Radio Regulations• WRC-03 Agenda• Preparations - national, regional, global• Next WRC

World Radiocommunication ConferenceWorld Radiocommunication Conference

• A conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN body

• Updates the International Radio Regulations

• Meets every 2/3 years - although likely to be longer in future

• Agenda set mainly by previous WRC

International Radio RegulationsInternational Radio Regulations

• An international treaty• Rules and regulations for international

cooperation on the use of radio frequencies• Contain the International Table of

Frequency Allocations, the global framework for national spectrum planning

• Include Resolutions and Recommendations of WRCs, some of which have specific regulatory force

WRC-03 AgendaWRC-03 Agenda

• Over 40 items - very wide range of radio services and frequencies (from Amateur at HF to space science above 275 GHz)

• With increasing use of spectrum, most issues involve trade-off between:

- radio services (e.g. mobile and fixed)

- terrestrial and space services (e.g. fixed terrestrial and fixed-satellite)

- commercial and government (e.g.commercial VSATS and defence radars)

Preparations - nationalPreparations - national

• International Frequency Planning Group responsible for overall policy

• Government and private-sector members

• Coordinator appointed for each Agenda item

• Parallel working with European and global preparations

Preparations - EuropeanPreparations - European

• European preparations in Conference Preparatory Group of CEPT (45 countries)

• Numerous meetings of CPG between WRC-2000 and WRC-03, most recent 10-14 Feb 03

• CPG produces comprehensive set of European Common Proposals (ECPs) and Brief - ECPs on most Agenda items adopted

• Coordination continued during WRC

Preparations - ITUPreparations - ITU

• Many technical and other studies conducted in ITU-R Study Groups and Special Committee on Regulatory/Procedural Matters

• Results brought together in Report of Conference Preparatory Meeting (CPM)(Nov 2002)

Key Mobile IssuesKey Mobile Issues

• Public Protection and Disaster Relief• RLANs at 5 GHz• IMT-2000 and beyond (3rd (and 4th?)

generation mobile) inc. conflict with Broadcasting-Satellite

• Mobile-Satellite inc. aeronautical• TWIMS (Terrestrial wireless interactive

multimedia services)

Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) (Agenda 1.3)

Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) (Agenda 1.3)

• Agenda seeks harmonised allocations• PP and DR are separate issues• For PP, identify range of bands for countries

to choose• Further consideration of long-term

requirements for high bandwidth applications• ECP adopted and acceptable to UK - includes

380-470 MHz tuning range with 380-400 MHz as a core band

RLANs at 5 GHz (Agenda 1.5)RLANs at 5 GHz (Agenda 1.5)

• Many shared allocations around 5 GHz• But no primary mobile allocation to support

RLANs• Any solution will involve delicate compromise

between services (eg MSS feeder links)• ECP adopted acceptable to UK• Proposes new primary mobile allocation (DFS

mandatory) and protection of existing services

IMT-2000 and beyond (Agenda 1.22)IMT-2000 and beyond (Agenda 1.22)

• Pressure from outside Europe to identify spectrum for “4G” - around 4 GHz

• Also interest in allocations below 600 MHz (eg 450 - 470 MHz)

• WRC-2000 identified alternative 3G expansion bands

• Of these, Europe has agreed 2.5 - 2.69 GHz (ERC Decision Nov 2002)

• ECP adopted - no new allocations; update existing texts; return to issue at next WRC (2007?)

Mobile-Satellite issues (Agenda 1.16 and 1.20)Mobile-Satellite issues (Agenda 1.16 and 1.20)

• Pressure (mainly from US) for additional MSS allocations below 1 GHz, and associated feeder links around 1.4 GHz

• Conflict with existing allocations and services including key mobile and fixed bands

• ECP adopted proposing no new allocations

• Fully acceptable to UK

Mobile-satellite 1-3 GHz (Agenda 1.31)Mobile-satellite 1-3 GHz (Agenda 1.31)

• To meet needs of MSS community (and UK-based Inmarsat in particular)

• Included at insistence of UK following failure to achieve additional allocations at least 2 WRCs

• ECP adopted proposing new pair of allocations at 1 518-1 525 MHz and 1 668-1 675 MHz

Aeronautical Mobile-Satellite (Agenda 1.11)

Aeronautical Mobile-Satellite (Agenda 1.11)

• Proposal to extend allocation at 14 - 14.5 GHz to include aero mobile-satellite

• Driven by Boeing (“Connexions” programme) to provide data links to passengers’ laptops

• ECP adopted to extend allocation and meet this requirement, while providing protection of fixed services

• Acceptable to UK

Terrestrial Wireless Interactive Multimedia Services (TWIMS) (Agenda 1.21)

Terrestrial Wireless Interactive Multimedia Services (TWIMS) (Agenda 1.21)

• Original intention to respond to new, ill-defined, applications

• UK has sought to use to introduce flexibility in UHF TV spectrum, in particular so as not to constrain use of spectrum released after digital switch-over

• Has proved extremely difficult to convince other European countries, most of which see only conventional broadcasting usage

• No ECP yet