The 39th meeting of the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) was held last 3-6 March in Budapest, attended by 65 participants representing 30 administrations, the European Commission (EC), the European Communications Office (ECO) and 13 observers.
The following decisions stand out:
- 700 MHz band: ECC Decision 15(01) on harmonised technical conditions for mobile/fixed communications networks (MFCN) in the 694-790 MHz band was approved. This decision establishes harmonised planning of the 700 MHz band (694-790 MHz), assigning it to the implementation of mobile networks (designated MFCN) based on frequency division duplex (FDD) - 2x30 MHz - and also includes the possibility of using unpaired frequencies (SDL);
- Intelligent transport systems (ITS): some administrations expressed their concern that before moving forward with the decision on ITS it is important to guarantee that other systems, especially the dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) system of the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) used in motorway tolls, be protected against eventual ITS interference. Given those concerns, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) was asked for its opinion so that this issue can be closed at the next ECC meeting this coming 30 June-3 July;
- Revision of ECC DEC (05)05 on harmonised use of spectrum for mobile networks (MFCN) operating in the 2500-2690 MHz band: the ECC considered that the revision of Decision ECC DEC (05)05, compared to the version in force, basically introduces technical elements in order to apply a neutral designation of the 2.6 GHz band for MFCN. This decision will be submitted to the public consultation process.
Also, the ECC notably completed several reports in response to EC mandates, namely on harmonised technical conditions to apply in the 1900-1920 MHz/2010-2025 MHz band and in the 2300-2400 MHz band. It also approved for publication the first part of the studies identifying harmonised compatibility and sharing conditions for wireless access systems, including radio local area networks in the 5350-5470 MHz and 5725-5925 MHz bands.
