The WRC-12 conference has ended with agreement on the future use of the so-called ‘Digital Dividend’ band between 790 and 862 MHz. The completion follows several late night sessions in Geneva.
An extended digital dividend has been put in place at 700 MHz, with the technical conditions to be agreed at WRC 2015. It followed an unexpected request from a number of Arab and African countries.
The proposal was considered by (CEPT) the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications, one of the regional organisations recognised by the ITU in its WRC preparations, which agreed a compromise so that the necessary studies could be completed in time for WRC-15.
CEPT believes that raising the status of mobile radio services in another significant part of spectrum below 1 GHz will widen its options in Europe. It has to balance the demands for mobile broadband with those of rural broadband services.
Coordination on the established digital dividend band (790-862 MHz) was also finally reached following the signature of Romania and Ukraine. This lifts the last big regulatory technical barrier to implementing the digital dividend in several Eastern European countries and was a major area of tension during the conference.
Thomas Ewers, co-president of the CEPT, said: “This WRC provides us with an updated and clear worldwide framework in which to choose how we arrange the spectrum in a harmonised way in Europe. This is good timing, with the European Parliament’s recent agreement of the European Radio Spectrum Policy Programme, which is an important strategic instrument in at least 27 of our 48 member countries.”
There was also clarification of the rules on the coordination and notification of satellite networks, which are essential for administrations to operate satellites at an orbital position.
Described as a “major outcome”, CEPT said it would will improve the management of the orbital and spectrum resource going forward and importantly reduce its scarcity.
