Some African Regulators Back Restraint for Allocations for Mobile Broadband
GENEVA -- Administrations in a sub-regional African group have “diverse positions” on the need to allocate frequencies below 790 MHz to spur mobile broadband, this month at the World Radiocommunication Conference, said a regulator who supports a cautious approach by including the possible allocations on the agenda of the 2015 conference. The 2006 regional agreement for digital broadcasting in 120 countries in Europe, Africa, parts of the Middle East and ex-Soviet states would need to be revisited, participants said.
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Several concerns were raised during meetings over the last week, officials said. Two views were expressed for nearly every issue, said Larry Olson, who chaired the meetings. African and Arab groups proposed to extend mobile use below 790 MHz based on work that had already been done (CD Jan 25 p9). A second group, mostly of European and ex-Soviet states, disagreed and called for further work and studies. No decisions with full agreement were reached, said Olson, who is the FCC’s assistant chief for strategic analysis and negotiations. Any decision will likely focus more on procedural and regulatory aspects over technical aspects, he said.
Some of the concerns raised by European administrations and countries in the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications are difficult to differentiate among technical, regulatory and procedural aspects, the chairman’s report said. “It may be reasonable to conclude that there are no technical barriers for mobile service use of the band 690-790 MHz,” the chairman said in a personal opinion in the report.
Germany said further technical and regulatory studies in ITU-R are needed before reaching a conclusion. ITU-R studies need to address any proposed move, Germany said, referring to re-planning the Geneva 2006 Agreement, determining mobile and broadcasting spectrum requirements, and dealing with harmonization.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) of 15 countries last year selected DVB-T2 with MPEG-4 compression as the terrestrial transmission standard. One regulator in the group told us there are “diverse positions” on the need to allocate frequencies below 790 MHz to mobile during the 2012 conference. The regulator said making the allocations this month “is a bit premature.” He said studies first need to determine the regulatory impact, and consultations with broadcasters need to be made.
Opponents said DVB-T2, and not just DVB-T, would have to be studied, the report said. DVB-T was studied in preparations for a related agenda item on use of the band 790 to 862 MHz. Proponents of extending mobile allocations said discussion should be focused on services, not specific technologies, the report said.
Opponents said the 3rd Generation Partnership Project’s Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology was the main standard considered in studies for the related agenda item on the band 790 to 862 MHz, the report said. Speakers said results of calculations of propagation models for the use of the 790 to 862 MHz band would likely provide similar, though not exactly the same, technical results for frequencies below 790 MHz, it said. There was “no major disagreement” with the idea that what prevails in the above 790 MHz band may reasonably be applied to the band below 790 MHz, it said.
The group was informed of several sharing studies that were carried out for the band 698-806 MHz and associated adjacent bands, the report said. The conclusion suggested that International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) systems can coexist successfully with other systems. IMT is the international standard for advanced wireless communications. LTE is a component of IMT. France said the conclusion that IMT can coexist is a bit too optimistic. ITU-R studies didn’t come to such a positive conclusion.
Speakers also said incumbent services would need to be protected, the report said, referring to primary allocations for broadcasting, the broadcasting satellite service, aeronautical radionavigation service, and secondary allocations to fixed and mobile. Debate and negotiations over aeronautical systems in the eastern European border areas of some ex-Soviet countries started before the 2007 conference, which addressed frequencies above 790 MHz, and were only resolved in the days before the 2012 conference. Implementation rather than allocations appeared to be more relevant for deployed systems, the report said.
Opponents said broadcasters’ spectrum requirements need to be looked at following reallocation of the 790 to 862 MHz band, the report said. Proponents said technology has improved spectrum efficiency and coverage, so more than half the previously allocated analog band could be vacated for other services, it said. Opponents said re-planning in reduced available spectrum needs to be taken into account, it said. The main consideration likely involves what happens after any allocations are made, since restrictions may be imposed by the Radio Regulations, and the Geneva 2006 digital broadcasting agreement between 120 countries would need to be taken into account, the report said. The matter may be discussed further this week.