Geneva hosted last 20-22 October the 16th meeting of project team 42 (PT 42) of the Spectrum Engineering working group (WG SE), chaired by Stephen Bond of the British regulator Ofcom.
PT SE 42 is in charge of technical issues associated to the introduction of flexible spectrum use in the so-called flexible bands (862-870 MHz, 1785-1805 MHz and 57-59 GHz were the bands originally identified by the Frequency Management working group) and WAPECS (Wireless Access Policy for Electronic Communication Services) (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 and 3.4-3.8 GHz). In the scope of the response to the second European Commission (EC) mandate on the digital dividend, PT SE 42 aims to determine the optimal technical conditions for the implementation of electronic communication services (ECN – Electronic Communication Network), fixed/mobile, in the 790-862 MHz sub-band, bearing in mind co-existence with existing services, specifically broadcasting service.
This meeting had three goals, the first of which was to present the final version of the report on work associated to the 2.6 GHz (2500-2690 MHz) band, that is, about the study of interference between terminal stations and impact on the block edge mask (BEM) for terminals presented in CEPT Report 19. The sub-working group completed the report by correspondence and it was submitted to the ECC for discussion at the group’s next meeting (last week of October 2008). Given that the studies present new BEM terminal values, the options for same to be reflected in CEPT Report 19 were discussed.
The second goal was to analyse whether the formula produced by the Telecommunications Conformity Assessment and Market Surveillance Committee (TCAM) for radio interface notification can be applied to the technical conditions determined for the 2.6 GHz band, specifically BEM. This point led to some controversy and it was concluded that BEM's inclusion in the formula was not in line.
The third goal was to go ahead with work concerning the EC mandate on the digital dividend. To that end, the debate focused on the interference scenarios to be studied, identifying the scenarios already studied by the ECC TG4 working group.
The group's next meeting has been scheduled for 20-22 January 2009 in Maisons-Alfort, France, with a view to continuing work on the EC mandate on the digital dividend and reviewing eventual comments received in the public consultation associated to the aforementioned studies on interference between terminal stations in the 2.6 GHz band.
