The 50th meeting of ECC Project Team 1 (ECC PT1) on International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) was held last 22-24 June in Montreux, Switzerland, chaired by Didier Chaveau of France. The 85 participants included representatives from administrations, the ECO, the European Commission (EC), operators and manufacturers.
ECC PT1 is responsible for all issues concerning IMT. Among others, its mission is to develop measures to harmonise bands identified for the IMT system, including respective channels, to carry out sharing/compatibility studies and to coordinate European positions within the Radiocommunication Sector of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R).
ECC PT1 completed a study meant to determine technical conditions that will enable machine-to-machine (M2) applications to be accommodated in the 700 MHz band, namely considering spectrum in 733-736 MHz/788-791 MHz (2x3 MHz) and support technologies for M2M based on LTE and GSM. This proposed report (on compatibility and sharing studies for M2M applications in the 733-736 MHz/788-791 MHz band) will be submitted to the 40th ECC meeting (30 June to 3 July 2015) so it can be adopted for public consultation.
ECC PT1 is producing a report on operational guidelines for spectrum sharing to support implementation of the current ECC framework in the 3.6-3.8 GHz range, with the aim of facilitating implementation of mobile/fixed communication networks (MFCN). It also proposes guidelines to assure compatibility with fixed service and fixed satellite service, considering the applicability of licensed shared access (LSA) to MFCN systems in the 3600-3800 MHz band. Several contributions were received and will be considered by a correspondence group that will further develop the report.
Note that at the 39th ECC meeting in March 2015 the proposed ECC Report 237 (compatibility study between wideband mobile communication services on board vessels (MCV) and land-based MFCN networks) was approved for public consultation by 22 April 2015. The 35 comments received in the public consultation were all resolved and the proposed report will be submitted at the 40th ECC meeting (30 June to 3 July 2015) for final approval and respective publication. Following the completion of ECC Report 237, the proposed revision of Decision ECC/DEC/(08) (harmonised use of GSM, UMTS and LTE systems on board vessels in the frequency bands 880-915/925-960 MHz and 1710-1785/1805-1880 MHz, 1920-1980/2110-2170 MHz and 2500-2570/2620-2690 MHz) was finalised and will be submitted to the 40th ECC meeting so it can be adopted for public consultation.
At the last ECC PT1 meeting a correspondence group was set up with the aim of evaluating potential interference in terrestrial mobile networks caused by mobile systems on board aircraft (MCA) operating without network control unit (NCU). This analysis followed a request by AeroMobile that mobile systems on board aircraft should only be operated using base stations and without NCU. The correspondence group reached no consensus in the conducted analyses and was likewise unable to reach any conclusions; the work will therefore continue in a correspondence group.
The EC mandate in 700 MHz comprises three tasks: tasks 1 and 2 were responded to in CEPT Report 53, already approved by CEPT, while task 3’s work was begun by ECC PT1 in this meeting. To that end, it began to develop a new CEPT report. Notably, to reflect the technical conditions for spectrum use by MFCN in the 700 MHz band, the parameters found in Decision ECC/DEC/(15)01 that best reflect latest developments were used; the technical conditions for spectrum usage by programme making and special events (PMSE) equipment were based on CEPT Report 53. In practical terms, nothing new is being added to the solutions already worked out by CEPT for the 700 MHz band.
The proposed revision of Decision ECC/DEC/(05)05 on harmonised utilisation of spectrum for IMT-2000/UMTS systems operating within the band 2500-2690 MHz was adopted for public consultation by 22 April 2015 at the 39th ECC meeting (March 2015); responses from six entities were received. Those comments were all dealt with at this meeting and the decision’s proposed revision will be submitted at the 40th ECC meeting (30 June to 3 July 2015) for final approval and respective publication.
A decision was also made to update the frequency bands contained in ECO Report 03, based on the new decisions approved by CEPT, thereby including the 1452-1492 MHz, 2300-2400 MHz and 694-790 MHz frequency bands.
A new ECC PT1 working group was also created, SWG E, meant to coordinate CEPT activities for matters discussed in working party 5D (WP 5D) of Study Group 5 (SG 5) on Terrestrial Services of ITU-R for the development of IMT-2020.
