WRC Compromise Solution May Allow Some IMT in C-Band
GENEVA -- Momentum may be building at the World Radiocommunication Conference for no change to the C-band -- with the exception that countries may “opt in” to use frequencies in the lower part of the band for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT). Four countries in the Americas, including Brazil and Mexico, had objected to no change in C-band, a WRC participant said: “That’s causing problems within CITEL [Inter-American Telecommunication Commission]. It’s causing problems with the Europeans.”
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Three groups began drafting text Monday, said Kalpak Gude, deputy general counsel at Intelsat. One group is working on the no change for C band option. Another is working with the European proposal with a provision that countries would be given “further urging” to look at 3.4 to 3.6 GHz for IMT, he said. The proposal still includes 3.6 to 3.8 GHz, he said. Europe is already using C-band for fixed or nomadic service, such as fixed wireless access, a WRC participant said: “They want it identified for IMT so it [the spectrum] has greater commercial value.”
A third option was created by the African Group, largely the African Telecommunications Union, led by Senegal and Nigeria, Gude said: “It’s the footnote option.” A country normally uses a footnote to opt out of agreed text, a WRC participant said. The proposal calls for no change for countries that don’t want IMT, but “countries that did want IMT in the 3.4 to 3.6 [GHz] band” would “opt in” through a footnote to the agreement. If a country did opt in, it would in effect be deciding not to have fixed satellite service in the band, Gude said: “That shouldn’t preclude an adjacent country from operating FSS.”
More contentious is the level of protection “administrations give to FSS operations in effectively neighboring jurisdictions,” Gude said. The debate is whether limits “should be some sort of coordination requirement based on some complicated set triggers at the ITU” or whether it should be simpler, Gude said. For example, IMT base stations could be deployed only a certain distance from the border, Gude said. Another approach is a limit on the amount of “energy in your IMT system at the border between your IMT country and the neighboring, presumably non-IMT country,” Gude said. The limit would be set so operation of IMT wouldn’t preclude operation of FSS in the adjacent country, Gude said.
CITEL is looking at a similar proposal, a WRC participant said: “I think the CITEL proposal followed the lead of the African proposal.” The CITEL position almost came apart Tuesday night, a WRC participant said. Officials may have worked through some problems Wednesday, a WRC participant said. “CITEL is looking at what protection criteria they would require” for countries in the Americas to agree, a WRC participant said. The proposals are “a way forward depending on the protection criteria,” a WRC participant said. The African Group is interested in this approach, but they can go back to their no change position, a WRC participant said: “If they can’t get the protection criteria they need, they're willing to go back there.”
“The question is what happens in Asia,” a WRC participant said. The Asia-Pacific Telecommunity is sticking with a no-change approach, a WRC participant said: “They're looking at the opt-in footnote” approach. “Some of the Europeans would probably support the UHF if they could get some positive stuff on 3.4 GHz,” a WRC participant said. Identifying UHF frequencies for IMT “is really held prisoner more because” of 3.4 GHz than anything else, a WRC participant said. The compromise on the C band will be in the footnotes, a WRC participant said. -- Scott Billquist
WRC Notebook…
The South Koreans “are very upset with the U.S.” over talks to use the C band for IMT and over new limits for satellites between 2.5 and 2.69 GHz, a WRC participant said Wednesday. Talks over the new limits are deadlocked, a WRC participant said. South Koreans were insulted because they weren’t consulted in a compromise solution, he said. “The problem isn’t Korea, it isn’t the others,” a WRC participant said: “The biggest problem right now [with new limits on satellites between 2.5 and 2.69 GHz] is the government of India… They don’t really want constraints on them. I guess they're going to wire India with 2.5 GHz” mobile satellite service. Europe and the Americas don’t have any mobile satellite service in that band.
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Concerns over WiMAX at 3.4 GHz result from U.S. radars that disrupt commercial systems, a WRC participant said: “It can make for ugly politics.” Interference with the Aegis combat systems and Airborne Warning and Control Systems can be high, he said (CD Oct 30 p8), and the U.S. would like to find a way to prevent that. WiMAX at those frequencies raises the noise floor for the radars, reducing their effectiveness, he said. Upgrades are necessary to get around it,"but they don’t have the money to do the upgrades,” he said. Behind the radars are 30 or 40 year old processors, he said: “It would be nice if the RF piece was a little bit crisper around the edges, but even if you let them stay… sloppy,” better computers on the back side would do a lot. Open the band in the U.S., and an auction could “get them some money for that,” he said. “You're going to have finish the 1,710 to 1,755 MHz piece before they''ll even think about that,” he said.