The eighth meeting of project team 42 (PT 42) of the Spectrum Engineering working group (WGSE), responsible for technical issues concerning the introduction of flexible spectrum use in certain frequency bands, was held last 25-27 September in Nicosia (Cyprus), attended by 35 representatives of administrations, operators, manufacturers, the European Commission (EC) and the European Radiocommunications Office (ERO). The group's current aim is to respond to the European Commission (EC) mandate of 5 July 2006, framed in the new EC policy on flexible spectrum use. Bearing in mind the need to avoid interference, the mandate requires definition of the minimum technical conditions to be applied to the frequency bands (470-862 MHz, 880-915 MHz/925-960 MHz, 1710-1785 MHz/1805-1880 MHz, 1900-1980 MHz/2010-2025 MHz/2110-2170 MHz, 2.5-2.69 GHz, 3.4-3.8 GHz) indicated by the Radio Spectrum Committee (RSC) according to the WAPECS (Wireless Access Policy for Electronic Communication Services) concept of the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG).
Regarding interaction between PT 42 and other working groups, the contributions resulting from the most recent WG SE meeting were presented, specifically the changes proposed for the Executive Summary. As for the liaison statement of ECC project team 1 (PT1), given that this group has decided to go ahead with compatibility studies in the 2.5 GHz band, it was indicated that the results obtained through late November 2007 will be forwarded to PT 42. Lastly, the ERM_FLX (working group of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute - ETSI) liaison statement was presented, which indicates that the 863-870 MHz band will be studied by ERM_FLX as a flexible band even though not covered in the flexible band definition set out in ECC Report 80. On the other hand, ETSI reported that it is still studying the impact on the definition of harmonised standards caused by the block/band edge mask (BEM) concept adopted by PT 42.
The ad hoc group created in the previous PT 42 meeting to define BEM in the 2.5 GHz band reported the result of the two telephone conferences held during the month of September. This group made the decision to establish a set of two BEMs as a solution for the band, identifying two cases. Case A, for which a BEM will be defined in a scenario of multiplexing technologies by frequency division (FDD)/FDD or multiplexing by time division (TDD)/synchronised TDD, and case B, for a scenario of TDD/FDD or TDD/non-synchronised TDD. Contrary to what has been set for the 3.4-3.8 GHz band, in the 2.5 GHz band BEMs will be presented for both the base station and the terminal.
Regarding the other bands, a new annex was created for the 3.4-3.8 GHz band, based on Portugal?s contribution, while the 900 MHz band saw a point raised by the Russian Federation included; the remaining bands were not changed. Also, the executive summary proposed by WG SE was debated and slightly amended with a view to safeguarding the proposed spirit.
Due to the 2007 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-07), the group will only hold one more meeting, in late November, to work on the 2.5 GHz band and the general conclusions. The ad hoc group will continue discussions by means of telephone conferences; the report?s final version will be presented to the RSC at the December meeting.
