The 29th meeting of the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) was held last 20-24 June in Split, Croatia. It was attended by 83 participants representing 29 administrations, the European Commission, the European Communications Office and 11 observers.
The following decisions stand out among the subjects considered at the meeting:
- Final approval of the new Decision ECC/DEC/(11)CC on “The harmonised use of frequencies for Citizens’ Band (CB) radio equipment”. A total of 19 administrations, including Portugal, indicated their intention to implement this decision. The Netherlands indicated that it would not implement the decision and presented a written statement pointing out a number of relevant aspects it considers to be missing in the decision. Spain (represented by Portugal) indicated that it was not opposed to adoption of this decision but would not implement it for the time being, though expected to do so in the future;
- The approval for public consultation of the new Decision ECC/DEC/(11)HH on “Harmonised frequency arrangements for IMT systems used for mobile/fixed communications networks (MFCN) operating in the bands 3400-3600 MHz and 3600-3800 MHz”; according to the text agreed to in the plenary session, the consultation’s cover letter asks the administrations to indicate their preference for options A and B, in terms of TDD and FDD;
- Approval for public consultation of the amended Decision ECC/DEC/(02)05 on “The designation and availability of frequency bands for railway purposes in the 876-880 MHz and 921-925 MHz bands”;
- Approval for public consultation of the amended Decision ECC/DEC/(04)06 on “The availability of frequency bands for the introduction of Wide Band Digital Land Mobile PMR/PAMR in the 400 MHz and 800/900 MHz bands”.
Also noteworthy at the meeting was the report from the ECC TG5 chairman, Philippe Horisberger of Switzerland, regarding the work carried out by the ECC Structure task group. According to the information presented, the ECC has again debated the Committee’s future structure, agreeing to discontinue WG RA until the end of this year, while keeping unchanged the working group on Numbering and Networks (WG NaN) (recently reorganised) and the Conference Preparatory Group (CPG). Due to the pressure from various administrations, specifically Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, the plenary session again discussed the future of ECC PT1, reiterating that the group will keep its current mandate until the next World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12). Agreement was reached to redistribute the tasks of WG RA, although some administrations hold that the maintenance or at least merger of some of the project teams (PTs) of the Frequency Management and Spectrum Engineering working groups (WG FM and WG SE) should be analysed first. TG5’s proposal to keep those groups unchanged nevertheless prevailed.
The plenary session also decided to close TG5; the group’s activity should henceforward be completed at the level of the ECC Think Tank open to all administrations. The Committee likewise approved the terms of reference of the recently created Forum Groups (FGs), which should basically work via electronic means. Their mission is to promote reflection and information sharing, but not to produce deliverables. The new structure proposed by the Russian Federation, which aims to create FGs on EFIS and RIS, Maritime Issues, Cognitive Radio Systems, Amateur Radio and SEAMCAT TG. The ECC chairman nevertheless preferred such a decision to be made at working group level and asked the chairmen to examine the issue.
Regarding procedural issues, the plenary session approved the proposal put forward by the WG RA chairman (Stelios Himonas of Cyprus) to revise the rules of procedure (RoP) and working methods (WM) in the scope of the regular review carried out every three years. The RoP changes were provisionally approved and should be formally approved at the next ECC.
Likewise approved was the proposal from WG FM for PT FM 50 to develop an impact assessment (IA) in the 1452-1492 MHz bands, designated as band L. Also approved was the group’s proposal to develop a decision regarding earth stations on mobile platforms (ESOMP) for the Ka band, similar to what exists for the C and Ku bands. It was further decided that the revision of Decision ECC/DEC/(06)07 on “The harmonised use of airborne GSM systems in the frequency bands 1710-1785 and 1805-1880 MHz” will be co-ordinated by PT1.
Parallel to the ongoing revision of Decision EC 2005/50/EC, the ECC decided to mandate WG FM to review Decision ECC/DEC/(04)10, which allows short range radars (SRR) to operate in the 24 GHz band. The current situation of activity regarding CEPT’s response to the European Commission (EC) mandate in the 169 MHz band was also reviewed, as well as how to streamline the work in order to meet the deadline for turning in the final report. Due to the upcoming WRC-12, it will most likely not be possible for this to be done until December 2011. A letter to the EC with this information was approved.
A letter to the EC concerning ongoing work after approval of CEPT Report 39 in response to the EC mandate of 2 GHz was approved. The letter sets out the inherent complexity of TDD and FDD co-existence in the 1900-1920 MHz and 1920-1980 MHz bands. The ECC will specifically continue to look into ways to improve use of the 1900-1920 MHz band. The ECC thus indicates to the EC that it will focus the development of harmonisation measures via application of the results of CEPT Report 39 in the FDD bands (1920-1980/2110-2170 MHz) and will carefully study possible solutions for efficient use of the TDD bands (1900-1920/2010-2025 MHz).
The WG RA proposal to develop a generic decision on free circulation and use and licence exemption for mobile terminals operating in the 900 and 1800 MHz bands was approved, parallel to revision of ERC/DEC/(00)06 “on the licensing and global circulation and use of IMT-2000 terrestrial and satellite mobile terminals”. The ECC also endorsed the WG RA proposal to not develop a decision that covers all terrestrial terminals operating under a network’s control, a proposal put forward by Sweden.
ECO Director Mark Thomas of the United Kingdom provided information about ongoing communications issues that derive from recommendations approved by the CEPT Assembly, namely presenting the new templates for ECC and CEPT deliverables now being finalised. He confirmed that the new CEPT-ECO-ECC-CERP-Com-ITU website will be operational as from this 1 July and also reported results of the last ECO Council meeting, namely the proposal to promote sustainable management of the Office, which led to a lengthy debate about the scheduling of meetings and trips.
A seminar on international mobile telecommunications (IMT) was also held, in which Peter Scheele of BNetzA covered the subject of “Perspectives on future Mobile Broadband: IMT for the Next Decade”. On behalf of Alcatel-Lucent and the UMTS Forum, Cengiz Evci gave a presentation on “Mobile Traffic Forecasts 2010-2020”.
Lastly, the WG RA chairman (Stelios Himonas of Cyprus), whose term ends in September, was appointed by acclamation as ECC vice-chairman.
The next ECC plenary meeting will be held this coming 5-9 December in the Russian Federation, at a location still to be determined