The 48th meeting of project team 1 of the ECC (ECC PT1) on international mobile telecommunications (IMT) was held last 19-23 January in Edinburgh, Scotland, chaired by Didier Chaveau of France. About 100 participants attended, among them representatives from the administrations, the European Communications Office (ECO), the European Commission (EC), operators and manufacturers.
ECC PT1 is responsible for all matters concerning IMT. Its mission is specifically to develop measures to harmonise bands identified for the IMT system (including respective channels), conduct sharing/compatibility studies that involve the IMT system and coordinate European positions within the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R). Also in this group’s ambit is the coordination of work meant to respond to the EC mandate on use of the 694-790 MHz band (700 MHz band).
Bearing in mind the final approval of CEPT Report 53 in the wake of the EC’s mandate to CEPT on technical analysis, in particular, to identify minimal conditions (including channels) applicable to electronic communication systems, the proposed ECC decision ECC/DEC/(15)CC was developed, concerning harmonised technical conditions for mobile/fixed communications networks (MFCN) in the 694-790 MHz band, including a paired frequency arrangement (FDD 2x30 MHz) and an optional unpaired frequency arrangement (SDL), which was subject to public consultation until 12 January 2015. The proposed decision ECC/DEC/(15)CC, as revised by ECC PT1, will be submitted to the 39th ECC meeting (March 2015) for final approval. The ECC should accordingly decide on the date the decision will be implemented.
At its last meeting, the ECC approved for public consultation up to 12 January 2015 the proposed ECC Report 231 on mobile coverage obligations in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2 GHz and 2.6 GHz bands. This proposal, as revised by ECC PT1, will be submitted to the 39th ECC meeting for final approval.
At its 37th meeting in June 2014 the ECC asked ECC PT1 to review Decision ECC/DEC/(05)05 on harmonised utilisation of spectrum for IMT-2000/UMTS systems operating within the 2500-2690 MHz band, a task completed at this meeting. The proposed modification of the decision as revised by ECC PT1 will be submitted to the 39th ECC meeting to be adopted for public consultation. The EC indicated that it would check whether that revision is consistent with the Commission’s decision in this band (2008/477/EC) and in practice in the European Union (EU).
It was noted that ECO Report 03 has been totally integrated and can be generated from the frequency information system (EFIS) portal. PT1 agreed with this new approach, recommended by the EFIS/MG working group.
An ECC report about mobile communications on board vessels is being developed. It evaluates adjustment of the current framework per Decision ECC/DEC/(08)08 on harmonised use of the GSM system on board vessels in the frequency bands 880-915/925-960 MHz and 1710-1785/1805-1880 MHz, for protection of terrestrial mobile systems that use long term evolution in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands as well as compatibility in new scenarios that consider combinations of different technologies and bands on board vessels, namely use of LTE in 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz and use of the third generation mobile communications system (UMTS) in 2100 MHz. The group was unable to complete the report at the meeting; it will therefore be finished by correspondence so it can be submitted to the 39th ECC meeting to be adopted for public consultation.
The proposed recommendation ECC/REC/(15)01 on cross-border coordination for mobile/fixed communications networks (MFCN) in the frequency bands 1452-1492 MHz, 3400-3600 MHz and 3600-3800 MHz was adopted by the working group on Frequency Management (WG FM) in October 2014 for public consultation until 9 December 2014. The version revised by ECC PT1 will be submitted to the next WG FM meeting for final approval.
