Progress on the Goal of Global Harmonization for Mobile Claimed at WRC
GENEVA -- The World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) took major steps toward global harmonization for mobile applications, including wrapping up work on issues remaining after the 2007 conference, setting up a work program on future use of the 700 MHz band and agenda items for the 2015 conference that will follow up on decisions this month and consider spectrum allocations to the mobile service to spur broadband applications, officials said during a press conference on the last day of the four-week conference.
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"The GSMA is extremely pleased that many countries have recognized the need to secure the future of mobile broadband and along with our members we stand committed to the success of the ITU’s work,” said Anne Bouverot, GSMA director general, in a press release.
The WRC decisions on mobile broadband are a “clear message” to governments and industry of the importance of making broadband accessible to all, said Hamadoun Toure, the ITU secretary-general. There has to be enough room for broadband to grow, he said. The conference also addressed the digital dividend in the 700 MHz band “in a very elegant fashion,” he said. This now provides for a great deal of harmonization for the use of the 700 MHz band by all regions that need it the most, he said.
The conference agreement following Arab and African proposals for an allocation to mobile in the band 694 and 790 MHz was “to have this allocation for 700 MHz at this conference with [the effective date] of 2015,” said conference chairman Tariq Al Awadhi of the United Arab Emirates. ITU-R studies of compatibility between the mobile and other services will be done in the interim “in order to have [the] allocation finally in WRC 2015,” he said. The allocations are subject to “various provisions” agreed during the conference, an official said.
Toure highlighted the achievement of “allocating spectrum resources for mobile broadband and for addressing the digital dividend issue which ‘now provides for a great deal of global harmonization of the use of the 700 MHz band for all regions by the services which most need it,'” a press release said.
Opposition at the beginning of the conference was “very strong,” said Francois Rancy, director of the Radiocommunication Bureau. ITU region 1 has four groups, he said referring to Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the ex-USSR countries in the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications. Discussions at an early stage were put on track “in a positive spirit,” he said.
Conference action was required for administrations with broadcasting services and “to plan … in order to do some rearrangement for their frequencies for broadcasting to be ready by 2015,” Al Awadhi said. Those administrations that would like to use 700 MHz for mobile starting at the end of the 2015 conference will be able to, he said. They will be preparing for 2015 so that use of frequencies in ITU region 1 is harmonized, he said. The Americas and Asia-Pacific regions already have mobile services in the band, he said.
The conference “put everything on track for worldwide harmonization in three years,” Rancy said. Harmonized spectrum, especially in the 700 and 800 MHz bands will have “a much higher value” for governments, he said. The conference approach was thus for a harmonized rather than a footnote approach, he said.
"We want all countries to use the same frequency arrangement, the same standards, to get the benefits of worldwide harmonization,” Rancy said. The initial idea in the Arab and African proposals was to align the regions, he said. Conference participants became convinced it was much better to take advantage of the next three years to ensure the 700 and the 800 MHz band would be harmonized worldwide so that economies of scale for mobile broadband would be gained starting right after the 2015 conference, he said.
The historical “discrepancy” on use of the 700 and 800 MHz bands for mobile would be overcome by having the 2015 conference objective be a “harmonized situation throughout the world in the 700 and 800 MHz” bands, Rancy said. Incumbent TV broadcasting and aeronautical radionavigation are the “victims”, he said. “Sharing is possible,” he said. Once a primary mobile allocation is made, the decision between mobile and broadcasting in each of the 700 or 800 MHz bands, “is a national decision” unless there is a regional organization which can “enforce a common decision,” Rancy said referring to the European Union.
This will allow countries following expected decisions in 2015 to use “the mobile broadband service” with gear that will have the same qualities, relatively lower prices and the ability to go from one region to another, Rancy said. ITU-R work will “ensure that the frequency plans for the equipment are the same throughout the world” and that each region or sub-region doesn’t adopt a different way of doing things, he said.
"All the technical sharing problems” highlighted during the 2007 conference as possibly undermining the availability of the first digital dividend in the 800 MHz band in ITU region 1 have been resolved satisfactorily, Rancy said. There is now a “green light” for those countries that want to use the 800 MHz band for the mobile service, he said.
The decision for 2015 to address more mobile allocations was also a major achievement, Rancy said. ITU-R studies for the 2015 agenda item on more mobile spectrum will start with the mobile sector saying what it wants in terms of spectrum, he said.
The conference was a “great success,” Toure said. “A record number of youngsters” in all delegations are “bringing the new spirit” and technologies to the field of spectrum management, he said.