Regional Radiocommunication Conference
2006 Regional Radiocommunication Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
RRC-06, Geneva (SUI), 15 May - 16 June 2006
Date: 12 June 2006
Source: Chairman WG RRC-06
100% and a package deal
Most European administrations achieved a 100% score in the final plan iteration that appeared well ahead of schedule on Saturday morning the 10th of June. As in the third week, hectic scenes could be observed before the deadlines. Problems around the Adriatic sea could only just be settled before the due deadline. A package deal regarding the main unresolved issues in the text of the agreement (including end of transition and use of a plan entry for other applications) was discussed, but has not yet been formally proposed to the Plenary meeting of the Conference.
Planning process
On Monday the results of the third iteration of the plan appeared, which were considerably better that the results of the second iteration. The deadlines for the 4th iteration were on Wednesday 1800 for submission of modified requirements and on Thursday 2200 for the submission of Administrative Declarations.
The results of the 4th and final plan iteration was available on Saturday morning, almost a half day ahead of schedule. Most European administrations found their efforts of negotiating, calculating and data validation awarded with a 100% score.
The number of requirements and Administrative Declarations decreased with each iteration as shown in the table below:
| 4th iteration | 3rd iteration | 2nd iteration | 1st iteration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of requirements | 72 761 | 74 696 | 79 075 | 81 788 |
| Number of submitted Administrative Declarations | 413 320 | 1 056 918 | 4 220 211 | 2 130 747 |
| Usable Administrative Declarations | 95% | 96% | 88% | 45% |
The overall results of the four iterations of the plan, compared with the preceding iterations are summarized in the tables below:
| 4th Iteration | 3rd Iteration | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T-DAB | DVB-T | Total | T-DAB | DVB-T | Total | |
| Assigned | 8379 | 6703 | 15082 | 8037 | 5745 | 13782 |
| Not assigned | 438 | 708 | 1146 | 1024 | 1564 | 2588 |
| Total | 8817 | 7411 | 16228 | 9061 | 7309 | 16370 |
| % Assigned | 95.0% | 90.4% | 92.9% | 88.7% | 78.6% | 84.2% |
| % Not assigned | 5.0% | 9.6% | 7.1% | 11.3% | 21.4% | 15.8% |
| 2nd Iteration | 1st Iteration | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T-DAB | DVB-T | Total | T-DAB | DVB-T | Total | |
| Assigned | 8151 | 5599 | 13750 | 7502 | 4831 | 12333 |
| Not assigned | 2295 | 2803 | 5098 | 3253 | 3510 | 6763 |
| Total | 10446 | 8402 | 18848 | 10755 | 8341 | 19096 |
| % Assigned | 78.0% | 66.6% | 73.0% | 69.8% | 57.9% | 64.6% |
| % Not assigned | 22.0% | 33.4% | 27.0% | 30.2% | 42.1% | 35.4% |
| 4th Iteration | 3rd Iteration | 2nd Iteration | 1st Iteration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assigned | 55409 | 52229 | 51222 | 46333 |
| Not assigned | 1124 | 3647 | 9005 | 16359 |
| Total | 56533 | 55876 | 60227 | 62692 |
| % Assigned | 98.0% | 93.5% | 85.0% | 73.9% |
| % Not assigned | 2.0% | 6.5% | 15.0% | 26.1% |
In addition to the fourth iteration also the results of the so-called Complementary Analysis, the impact of digital assignments or allotments on analogue TV during the transition period have been distributed.
During the weekend the results of the fourth iteration will be examined in the Coordination and Negotiation Groups and the Planning Committee and errors will be identified. Next week the final plan, which is the result of the fourth iteration plus corrected errors, will be approved.
Agreement text
In the Regulatory Committee agreement has been reached (in line with the European Common Proposals) on three controversial issues:
- identification of affected administrations based on territory for broadcasting and on services area for other services (?Approach 1? for Art 4);
- implicit agreement, but with help of ITU-BR in case an administration has not replied before the end of the consultation period (?Option B? for Art 4);
- reference to Article 11 of the Radio Regulations (?Approach 1? for Art 5);
In the informal group of regional organisations a package deal has been discussed regarding:
- End of the transition period in UHF in 2015 for all countries and in VHF in 2015 for most countries including Europe and 2020 for some countries in Africa and some Arab countries;
- Possibility to operate stations for which no coordination agreement can be reached on a non-interference non-protection basis with, in case of unacceptable interference, a commitment to eliminate the interference;
- Use of a plan entry for other purposes with the following text:
?A digital entry in the Plan may also be notified with characteristics different than those appearing in the Plan, for transmissions in the broadcasting services or in other primary terrestrial services operating in conformity with the RR, provided that the peak power density in any 4 Khz of the above-mentioned notified assignment shall not exceed the spectral power density in the same 4 Khz of the digital entry in the Plan. Such use shall not claim more protection than that afforded to the above mentioned digital entry.?
Several CEPT Heads of Delegation meetings were held to address this issue. The majority of CEPT countries are in favour of the package and is of the opinion that the CEPT objectives regarding transition period and flexibility are achieved with this package together with the agreement on the issues mentioned at the beginning of this section. The other regional groups support the package. It is expected that the package deal will be forwarded to Plenary early next week.
The working group on Regulatory text has finished its work. This does not at all mean that all problems are solved. Discussions on many issues continued at Committee level, resulting in extra Committee meetings on Friday night and Saturday morning and further meetings next week.
Regarding the time frame of the overall duration for the Plan modification procedure, CEPT decided to stick to the compromise reached in the WG. A duration of 175 days is the consequence of the proposed procedure for the usual case and 245 days for the worst case.
Furthermore, the plenary adopted the title of the Agreement, the Preamble of the Agreement, Article 1, Resolution COM5/1 (broadcasting-satellite service in the band 620-790 Mhz), and the Resolution COM5/2 (characteristics for the coordination and the notification of primary terrestrial service in the bands 174-230 Mhz and 470-862 Mhz in the planning area), all in line with the ECP.
With the understanding that the informal consultations regarding a package solution are still going on, the texts of Articles 4 and 5 to be considered in COM5 reflect the various approaches and options of this package, which are in line with the ECP.
Annexes to the Agreement
The working group dealing with the annexes to the agreement has finished its work. Annex 1 (Plan lay-out), Annex 2 (Technical criteria), Annex 3 (Characteristics to be submitted in accordance with Art 4 and 5), Annex 4, Section 1 (Trigger mechanism for coordination), Annex 6 (List of other primary services) are agreed at Committee and partly at Plenary level.
Annex 5 (Operation of alternative terrestrial applications within the envelope of a digital entry to the Plan) is part of the package deal (see Agreement text).
The concept of Annex 4 Section II (Conformity check for conversion of allotments or assignments into one or more assignments) is acceptable but the regulatory formulations are subject to discussion in the Committee.
Meeting of EU countries
On the occasion of the presence of Mr Niepold of the EC, the EU chair Austria organised a meeting of Heads of Delegations of EU countries. At this meeting a common position was reached to support the proposal of the chairman of the Conference on a conflict between Israel and Palestine concerning requirements of stations on occupied territory. Furthermore the package deal regarding the text of the agreement (see Agreement text) has been discussed.
