U.S. URGES OPEN-ENDED WRC APPROACH TO GLOBAL PUBLIC SAFETY BANDS

The U.S. contends specific frequencies don’t need to be earmarked under that proposal, agenda item 1.3. Although the issue came up at WRC 2000, it has gained heightened visibility since Sept. 11, which focused more attention on the interoperability needs of emergency communications. Along with the Inter-American Telecom Commission (CITEL) and some other administrations, the U.S. seeks an approach in which the conference would adopt a resolution that would cite bands countries would be encouraged to consider for public protection use, without identifying particular blocks of spectrum, sources said. One challenge for the U.S. is the extent to which spectrum around 380-400 MHz will figure in language that emerges from the conference. Motorola withdrew last year from a lead role in drafting the U.S. proposal in that area, partly out of frustration that DoD’s continued opposition to the inclusion of 380-400 MHz would make harmonization across a wide range of bands harder.

In Europe, that NATO band already is designated for public safety interoperability. For example, the U.K. has allocated 380-430 MHz and 440-490 MHz to the Tetra network of British Telecom for emergency communications. The European Radiocommunications Committee has designated 380-385 MHz, paired with 390-395 MHz, for digital land mobile systems for emergency communications. While CITEL has agreed to language that wouldn’t identify specific bands, some countries elsewhere are pushing the idea of identifying specific spectrum for use by public protection or disaster relief systems, a source said. One challenge cited for the U.S. in the past on that agenda item was that it was one of the few countries that had designated 4.9 GHz and 700 MHz for public safety (CD April 24 p1). In many regions, 700 MHz is used for broadcast, as in the U.S., which analog broadcasters will be vacating as part of the DTV transition.

Some countries prefer identifying spectrum in the ITU Radio Regulations for public protection/disaster relief (PP/DR), much as several spectrum bands were identified for 3G wireless applications in 2000, a source said: “It’s not generally an approach the U.S. likes. We prefer to have flexibility.” Italy and India and several developing countries have been interested in an approach that would identify particular bands, the source said. A resolution backed by the Europeans would include the concept of a tuning range for public protection and disaster relief for the entire band of 380-470 MHz, a European official involved in drafting the common regional position told us. “Europe is precisely proposing to identify through a resolution the band 380-385/390-395 MHz as harmonized bands for PP/DR,” the official said.

That WRC agenda item considers identification of globally/regionally harmonized bands “to the extent practicable” to implement solutions for public protection agencies that deal with emergencies and disaster relief. WRC 2000 adopted a recommendation that put the issue on this year’s agenda and passed a resolution that invited the ITU- Radiocommunications (ITU-R) sector to undertake studies. ITU-R was asked to examine the technical and operational basis for cross-border use of equipment in emergency and disaster relief scenarios. The impetus behind the resolution has been to help bolster economies of scale in producing wireless equipment for public protection and disaster relief, consolidate duplicate infrastructure and increase interoperability and efficiency.

The U.S. proposal for the item stressed that it was “neither necessary nor advisable to identify frequency bands” in the ITU Radio Regulations for public protection and disaster relief. “Band identification is not needed to achieve spectrum harmonization,” the proposal said. “Administrations have the flexibility to designate any band for public protection and disaster relief, and thus they already may use common frequency bands.” If explicit bands are identified, there’s a risk countries may “misinterpret” such earmarking as a “constraint on their ability to use those bands for purposes other than public protection and disaster relief,” the U.S. said. The proposal says some bands have been designated for public protection or disaster relief, such as spectrum around 821-824/866-869 MHz in countries in N. and S. America. The U.S. would make no change in frequency allocations but would provide “uniform guidance” to administrations without conveying a separate status to public protection or disaster relief.

WRC Ambassador Janice Obuchowski last week called the U.S. approach on the item “pragmatic,” saying it looked at ways to harmonize spectrum but didn’t etch particular bands in stone (CD April 7 p3).

“The U.S. is sort of realizing that some bands may need to be considered, but what they are focusing on is having people made aware have what different administrations have made available for public safety” rather than urging the use of particular bands, an industry source said. This source likened the U.S. position as close to an “information document.” To the extent particular bands are cited, “they are definitely keeping 380-400 MHz off the table.” The only bands mentioned are such as the public safety allocations at 700 and 800 MHz and 4.9 GHz that already have been made in the U.S., the source said. Some administrations in Europe and Asia where public safety equipment manufacturers have a strong presence are interested in having 380-400 MHz as part of any language that emerges from WRC 2003 because it would further extend the economies of scale for some gear, the source said. The feasibility of that approach is complicated by the extent to which the band “is incredibly jam-packed for various military applications,” the source said.

An Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) common proposal drafted last month said it “strongly supports” the identification of globally/regionally harmonized bands for public protection and disaster relief at WRC 2003. Such an identification “brings significant long-term benefits” to administrations and their public protection and disaster relief communities because it improves efficient use of spectrum and reduces the “need for periodic band replanning,” the APT said. The regional common proposal said 406.1-430 MHz, 440-470 MHz, 806-824 MHz, 851-869 MHz, 4.9- GHz and 5850-5925 MHz “may be used to meet the needs of public protection and disaster relief applications, by administrations wishing to use them.” It proposes identifying these bands in a footnote in the Table of Frequency Allocations “since this method gives the most visibility in the Radio Regulations to provide guidance to equipment manufacturers and to administrations.” The proposal stressed administrations would have a choice of which bands they used and whether bands earmarked in the suggested footnote were used for other services.

But APT’s conference proposal left out 380-400 MHz, said a report last month by the Conference Preparatory Group of the Conference of European Posts & Telecommunications (CEPT). CEPT said it preferred that spectrum as part of a European Common Proposal. It said APT didn’t include the option for narrow band applications in the proposed footnote but mentioned it in the resolution. “Some APT member countries refused to accept this band to be included in the footnote due to their current extensive use of narrowband public safety and disaster relief needs,” CEPT said in a Feb. position paper. It said the group had designated 380-385 MHz and 390-395 MHz for use by digital land mobile systems for emergency services. “Digital narrow band systems are already taken into use or will be taken into use in the near future by various countries,” the paper said. CEPT cited estimates that a total of 5-12 MHz was required to accommodate wideband applications. “Frequency requirements, especially for wideband and broadband applications, will continue to be studied in CEPT until the deadline for WRC 2003 inputs,” it said.

The Arab administrations don’t believe identification of global/regionally harmonized bands for public protection/disaster relief (PPDR) is needed at WRC 2003, CEPT said in another report issued late last month. European administrations would like an early WRC decision on “a frequency-tuning range 380-470 MHz, including the 380- 385/390-395 MHz, as a core harmonized band for PPDR and that further studies should be undertaken for WRC-07 to decide on further frequency tuning ranges,” CEPT said. It said European and Arab administrations agreed that more studies were needed in that area and that a new resolution would be required to define the studies and reach a decision by the next conference.

A CITEL draft WRC proposal that emerged from a Feb. meeting in Orlando proposed that any spectrum recognized for future advanced solutions for public protection and disaster relief be developed in a WRC resolution. In line with the U.S. position, that proposed WRC resolution would recognize the importance of spectrum for public protection and disaster relief and would “acknowledge the need for national prerogatives.” CITEL said that by “continuing to study this issue in the ITU-R, the results of the studies could be developed into ITU-R recommendations, which would allow flexibility for updates without maintaining a WRC agenda item specifically for this issue.” The draft CITEL position mentions bands such as 700 and 800 MHz and 4.9 GHz, but didn’t name 380-400 MHz, a source said. For example, Brazil had expressed an interest in the 4.9 GHz band being cited among bands that administrations should consider as an option for public protection and disaster relief. “Certain countries wanted to see certain bands,” the source said. -- Mary Greczyn

(Editor’s Note: This is the 2nd in an occasional series on the upcoming WRC conference.)