Proceedings of the World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), held from 2 November 2015, in Geneva (Switzerland), continue into a third week.
During the third week of the Conference, the various working groups and subgroups of the different technical committees continued their work, alongside the meetings of the technical committees themselves. In accordance with the WRC-15 organisation, it was decided not to proceed with the work of these groups from this point forwards. Nevertheless, with various topics on the WRC-15 agenda remaining unresolved, detailed discussions will now be developed by through ad-hoc groups. As such, in a last attempt to find consensus solutions in the coming days, ad-hoc groups were set up to enable discussion of critical points; these will report back to the plenary as soon as possible on the results/consensus achieved.
During the third week, it was possible to reach compromise solutions for a number of other items on the agenda:
- The technical and regulatory conditions governing use of the 694-790 MHz frequency band by the mobile service have been validated, taking into account existing uses (Services ancillary to broadcasting (SAB)/services ancillary to programme-making (SAP), broadcasting, radio navigation) - (item 1.2 of the agenda).
- Discussion concluded as to spectrum for public protection and disaster relief applications (PPDR), with revision of Resolution 646 (PPDR) containing the PPDR frequency bands for each of the three ITU regions (item 1.3 of the agenda).
- A new Resolution was passed on Coordinated Universal Time(UTC), in the context of studies, with a view to possible elimination of leap seconds; the new Resolution makes provision for further analysis of the feasibility of achieving a continuous time, in collaboration with relevant international organizations, e.g. International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) and the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM), maintaining UTC until 2023 pending re-evaluation and a new decision at WRC-23 (item 14.1 the agenda).
Other items on the agenda remain under discussion, several as the subject of problematic and extensive debate, including:
- International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT): Although it was decided to rule out a set of frequency bands for assignment to the mobile service/identification for IMT (e.g. 2700-2900 MHz and 3800-4200 MHz), the following bands are still being discussed: UHF bands, L and C (470-694 MHz, 1427-1452 MHz, 1452-1492 MHz, 1492-1518 MHz, 3300-3400 MHz, 3400-3600 MHz, 3600-3700 MHz, 3700-3800 MHz, 4400-4500 MHz and 4800-4990 MHz), with a view to assignment to the mobile service, identification for IMT (item 1.1 of the agenda).
- Unmanned aircraft systems (UAV): intensive discussion continues on the potential identification of spectrum in the fixed satellite service bands (Ku band (14/11 GHz) and Ka band (30/20 GHz)) for UAV applications (item 1.5 of the agenda).
- Fixed satellite service (FSS): discussion continues on the potential identification of spectrum for the FSS in the 14.5 - 14.8 GHz band; Satellite operators in Europe and the United States have interests which conflict with the interests of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); however, the debate suggests that a compromise may be near (item 1.6.1 of the agenda).
- Agenda of WRC-19: the specification of themes for the 2019 World Conference has also seen lengthy discussion at this Conference; decisions remain pending on the following: studies/bands for IMT above 6 GHz, additional spectrum for Radio Local Area Networks (RLANs), frequency bands for high-altitude platform (HAP) systems, additional spectrum for satellites, with agreement already reached on the inclusion of Appendix 30, BSS, FSS, ESOMP, EESS, MetSS, GMDSS, GADSS (item 10 on the agenda).
Conference proceeding come to a close on 27 November 2015.
