Helsinki hosted last 19-21 January the 51st meeting of ECC project team 1 (ECC PT1) on International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT), chaired by Didier Chaveau of France and attended by 91 participants, including representatives from administrations, the European Communications Office (ECO), the European Commission (EC), operators and manufacturers.
ECC PT1 is in charge of all matters concerning IMT. Among other aspects, its mission is to develop measures to harmonise bands identified for the IMT system, including respective channels, and to conduct sharing/compatibility studies and coordinate European positions within the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R).
At its last meeting ECC PT1 approved for public consultation until 30 September 2015 the proposed ECC Report 242 on compatibility and sharing studies for M2M applications in the 733-736 MHz/788-791 MHz band, developed by ECC PT1, whose aim is to determine the technical conditions to accommodate machine-to-machine applications in the 700 MHz band. The comments were all dealt with and the proposed ECC Report 242 will be submitted to the 41st ECC meeting (March 2016) for final approval and publication.
ECC PT1 is developing a report on operational guidelines for spectrum sharing to support the implementation of the current ECC framework in the 3.6-3.8 GHz range, with a view to facilitating the implementation of mobile/fixed communication networks (MFCN) and proposing guidelines to ensure compatibility with fixed service and fixed satellite service, taking into account the applicability of licensed shared access (LSA) to MFCN systems in the 3600-3800 MHz band. The group continues to develop the report, which should be completed at the next ECC PT1 meeting so it can later be approved for public consultation.
At its last meeting, ECC PT1 completed the revision of 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, following the completion and approval of ECC Report 237. The ECC had approved at its last meeting the forwarding of the document for public consultation by 30 September 2015. The comments were all dealt with and the proposed revision of ECC Decision (08)08 will be submitted to the 41st ECC meeting (March 2016) for final approval and publication.
In the European Union the use of mobile communication services on board vessels (MCV) is regulated by Decision 2010/166/EU. Following the approval of ECC Report 237 and the revision of ECC Decision (08)08 there is a need to revise the regulatory solution for MCV in force at EU level; the EC accordingly sent a mandate to CEPT in November 2015. ECC PT1 therefore developed a proposed CEPT Report, the “eport from CEPT to the European Commission in response to the mandate on coexistence studies between seaborne UMTS and LTE with terrestrial electronic communications networks operating in the 1710-1785/1805-1880 MHz, 1920-1980/2110-2170 MHz and 2500-2570/2620-2690 MHz bands – Technical conditions for the use of LTE and UMTS MCV”, which was based on ECC Report 237 and will be submitted to the 41st ECC meeting (March 2016) so it can be adopted for public consultation.
At the 49th meeting of ECC PT1 (April 2015) a correspondence group was set up to evaluate the potential of interference in terrestrial mobile networks caused by mobile systems on board aircraft (MCA) operating without a network control unit (NCU). This analysis follows an AeroMobile request that MCA should only operate through use of base stations and without NCUs. Additionally, the ECC issued a mandate on MCA in November 2015 to deal with this matter; ECC PT1 accordingly developed a proposed interim CEPT report in response (the final CEPT report should only be completed in December 2016), which will be submitted to the next ECC meeting (March 2016) so it can be approved for public consultation.
The EC mandate in 700 MHz comprises three tasks, tasks 1 and 2 already responded to in CEPT Report 53 approved by CEPT and task 3, about which ECC PT1 developed a proposal for CEPT Report 60, Report B from CEPT to the European Commission in response to the Mandate to develop harmonised technical conditions for the 694-790 MHz (700 MHz) frequency band in the EU for the provision of wireless broadband and other uses in support of EU spectrum policy objectives, which was in public consultation from 2 November to 11 December 2015. The proposed CEPT Report 60 will be submitted to the 41st ECC meeting (March 2016) for final approval and publication.
The ECO supplied information about ECO Report 03. It was noted that that report has never been as updated as it is now, and that it can be generated not just totally but also partially (e.g. by band, group of countries).
In the scope of preparations for the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15), project team D of the Conference Preparatory Group began work on studies to gauge compatibility between mobile satellite service (MSS) and IMT in 1518 MHz, per AI 1.1 of the WRC-15 agenda. Those studies were not completed and the ECC decided that ECC PT1 should take charge of this work item from December 2015 on. The respective work began at this meeting, based on what had already been done.
The proposed revisions of Recommendations ECC (15)01 on cross-border coordination for MFCN in the frequency bands: 1452-1492 MHz, 3400-3600 MHz and 3600-3800 MHz, and ERC 01-01 on cross-border coordination for MFCN in the frequency bands: 1920-1980 MHz and 2110-2170 MHz were under public consultation until 24 July 2015; the comments were all resolved. The revised recommendations will therefore be submitted to the next meeting of the working group on Frequency Management in February 2016 for final approval and publication.
