The German city of Mainz hosted last 2-4 February the 31st meeting of project team 1 (PT1) of the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC), chaired by Peter Scheele. Nearly 75 participants attended, among them representatives of administrations, the European Radiocommunication Office (ERO), operators, manufacturers and the observer from the European Commission (EC). ECC IMT1 is in charge of all issues concerning IMT (international mobile telecommunications) and co-ordinates European contributions and positions with respect to spectrum planning and sharing/compatibility questions in the scope of working group 5D of ITU-R (Radiocommunication Sector of the International Telecommunication Union), as well as preparations for the 2011 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC). The PT is also taking part, together with project team 42 (PT42) of the ECC Spectrum Engineering working group (WG SE) and with the TG4 group, in drawing up the response to the second European Commission mandate on the digital dividend.
The work of this PT1 meeting was conducted in parallel in two subgroups (Spectrum Issues, and Sharing and Compatibility Issues). One of the most outstanding issues was the development of IMT channels in the 790-862 MHz band (second task of the second EC mandate on the digital dividend, assigned to PT1); a correspondence group on this matter was set up at the 29th PT1 meeting. The report was updated at this meeting, with the channel to adopt for mobile service set at 5 MHz – the possibility of adopting 8 MHz channels was set aside. Among other aspects, there was a noteworthy need to weigh the difficulties associated to border co-ordination, specifically bearing in mind the 8 MHz channels for broadcasting service and the 5 MHz channels for mobile service.
Also prepared was a document for the ECC with information on the type of deliverable to develop to designate the 790-862 MHz band for IMT and respective channels. Additionally, the development of IMT channels for the 450-470 MHz and 2300-2400 MHz bands was debated (they were designated at WRC-07 for IMT); it was determined that such initiatives should not be CEPT’s responsibility.
A number of co-existence studies were considered, among others between GSM MCBTS (GSM multicarrier base stations) systems and other systems, compatibility between mobile systems and FRS (future communication systems) in the 960 MHz band, and also the development of a new methodology for border co-ordination, given the development of mobile systems in adjacent bands and with different access modes such as FDD (frequency division duplex) and TDD (time division duplex).
Another issue subject to discussion was the analysis of potential WiFi interference in Femto FDD 3G base stations; this is now a working item adopted by the group.
