2015 World Conference Agenda Item Taking Shape for Mobile Broadband

The U.S. “is very pleased” with the progress of work for a 2015 conference agenda item for mobile broadband, said Decker Anstrom, head of the U.S. delegation, in a press briefing. It “fully captures” U.S. priorities, he said. There appears to be agreement in principle “that all bands should be studied during the next several years,” he said.

There is agreement that WRC preparatory studies on the agenda item can address any spectrum bands, an official said. The 2015 conference, taking into account the results of those studies, could consider any proposed band, she said. No bands have been excluded from consideration, she said. The draft resolution associated with the draft agenda item is titled, “Studies on frequency-related matters on IMT and other terrestrial mobile broadband applications."

Sharing and compatibility studies will account for existing and future needs of other services in bands under consideration for mobile allocations, Anstrom said. There is “clear global support for mobile harmonization,” he said. Most of the text has been approved, an official told us (CD Feb 9 p22). Remaining items will be considered Friday morning and will move up to plenary for consideration, she said.

How ITU-R studies will be carried out over the next 30 months is an important remaining discussion, Anstrom said. Debate will “start” around the U.S. view for an ITU-R “joint task group” as the most effective and efficient way of carrying out the studies to address the agenda item, he said. Time is limited, he said.

Discussions on mobile allocations for Africa and the Arab group are ongoing within ITU region 1, Anstrom said. The U.S. is hopeful the WRC will come to some “mutually satisfactory result” that will allow Africa and Arab states to move forward with deploying mobile services, Anstrom said. All administrations are entitled to footnotes in the Radio Regulations on their particular use of frequencies, an official told us. Countries are also entitled to manage their own spectrum, he said.

There is “broad consensus” that use of cognitive technology is not a treaty-level issue, Anstrom said. There had been worries that concerns would prompt a regulatory examination of use of the technology. The Radiocommunication Assembly resolution seems to “carry the day at the WRC,” said Richard Beaird, deputy coordinator for U.S. international communications and information policy. There is “broad consensus” it was sufficient, he said. The discussion now is what the WRC will say, Beaird said. “We are becoming increasingly confident that it will be a very contained statement about cognitive radio consistent with the resolution” agreed to at the Radiocommunication Assembly, he said.

The progress on UAS has also been good, Anstrom said. A compromise for no change to the Radio Regulations was decided on the satellite component for UAS, Allaix said. A new agenda item for the next WRC is focused on studies for possible use of some fixed satellite service (FSS) frequency bands for UAS command and control, he said.

A good compromise has been struck on the goal of using FSS spectrum for the satellite portion, Anstrom said. “There’s a view that more study is required,” he said. The idea that “future study recognizes that UAS systems are already operating in FSS bands consistent with the Radio Regulations” has broad support, he said. Work on the allocation for the terrestrial component in the 5030 to 5091 MHz band “is moving along very nicely,” he said.

The primary allocation for space research is ready for plenary approval perhaps as early as Feb. 10, Anstrom said. Arab countries dropped their objection, officials said. Work on the transition from analog to digital for maritime mobile services may be up for approval shortly, Anstrom said. There are upwards of 30 agenda items under discussion for the 2015 conference, an official said. Sufficient agreement has been reached on about a dozen items that are being passed up the chain for further consideration, he said.