The 77th meeting of the CEPT working group on Frequency Management (WG FM) was held last 20-24 May in Amsterdam, chaired by Sergey Pastukh of Russia. The gathering was attended by 103 delegates representing 30 administrations, the European Commission (EC), the European Communication Office (ECO), the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and eight international organisations.
Key matters considered at the meeting included the following:
- The revision of Recommendation ECC/REC/(11)06 on block edge mask compliance measurements for base stations was approved for submission to public consultation;
- The regulatory framework governing receiving earth stations operating in fixed satellite service (FSS) in the 17.7-19.7 GHz band is being reviewed, without claiming protection from fixed service (FS) stations;
- A questionnaire was agreed on, concerning issues associated to broadband direct-air-to-ground communications (BDA2GC) authorisations, for submission to the CEPT administrations. The questionnaire's conclusions will be reflected in the draft ECC report being prepared by project team FM PT48; noteworthy is that the BDA2GC regulatory framework should take technological neutrality into account;
- ECC Report 199 on applications and spectrum requirements for the future European broadband (BB) for public protection and disaster relief (PPDR) systems was approved by WG FM for publication. BB PPDR spectrum requirements should vary from country to country, whereby the calculations/scenario considered cover a minimum of 2x10 MHz. This information is now being considered in draft report B on BB PPDR solutions, together with a flexible regulatory framework in CEPT;
- Agreement was made to revoke decision ECC/DEC/(03)02 designating the L-band for satellite digital audio broadcasting (S-DAB), whereby the text agreed on in WG FM will be submitted to the ECC for final approval;
- The following documents are being prepared: (i) draft ECC decision meant to harmonise the 2300-2400 MHz band for mobile/fixed communications networks (MFCN) under the licence shared access (LSA) system, and (ii) draft ECC recommendation meant to provide administrations with cross-border coordination guidelines for MFCN in 2300-2400 MHz;
- The revisions of annexes 1 (non-specific short range devices), 2 (tracking, tracing and data acquisition), 7 (alarms) and 10 (radio microphones) of Recommendation ERC/REC 70-03 were approved for publication;
- Draft CEPT Report 47 the "Second Report from CEPT to the European Commission in Response to the Mandate on Inclusion of Information on Rights of Use for All Uses of Spectrum between 400 MHz and 6 GHz", was approved by WG FM for submission to the ECC for final approval;
- WG FM approved the internal report in response to the European Commission (EC) mandate on unpaired terrestrial 2 GHz bands, which aims to identify alternatives to mobile service use and to determine less restrictive technical conditions to apply to the 1900-1920 MHz and 2010-2025 MHz frequency bands. The internal draft report was submitted to the ECC’s consideration in June 2013;
- The WG FM meeting in civilian/military session was confirmed and will take place on 26-27 November 2013. The agenda was finished and approved; the administrations were asked to disseminate among their national military bodies the agenda and to urge the military to participate.
The next WG FM meeting will take place from this coming 30 September to 4 October in Montegrotto, Italy.
