spectrum harmonisation in europe, trends and topics mark thomas, director eco...

SPECTRUM HARMONISATION IN EUROPE,TRENDS AND TOPICS

Mark Thomas, Director ECO

[email protected]

www.cept.org/eco

NPT Frekvensforum, Lillesand, 12th September 2012

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.cept.org/eco

CEPT and ECC

regulatory agencies and/or ministries

The ECC is the part of the CEPT that deals with radio spectrum.

ECO

Permanent office of the CEPT:

to complement and support its leadership and membership as well as possible =

The ‘5 days a week’ job

Almost all for the ECC

What I’m going to talk about

• Harmonisation

• CEPT; who does what in Europe

• Trends in international frequency management and harmonisation

• Some present topics

Why harmonise ?

• When do we need rules of the road?

Benefits of international harmonisation

• Economies of scale

• Technical efficiency

• Consumer convenience

Harmonisation - technical efficiency

When different types of service use the same part of the spectrum, large amounts of land can be sterilised and then can’t be used for either type of service.

Drive on the same side of the road?

• Ja – men til hvilken side? Du skal køre til højre !

Nej Boney,det gjerer jeg ikkje!

http://www.storiesnow.com/napoleon2

Early wireless....

Disorganised chaos becomes organised efficiency

Bands allocated to different services

• Fixed,

• Maritime

• Aeronautical,

• Mobile,

• Broadcasting

• Amateur,

• Experimental

1927: International Radiotelegraph Conference(Washington DC, USA)

Frequency regulators busy harmonising.......

..still at it in 1947....

...and in 2012

Three main players in spectrum regulation in Europe

European Commission:Single market issuesBinding regulations through ‘comitology’ procedures with MS

ECC:Spectrum allocation and technical conditions for its use48 member countries acting togetherTechnical expertise used by EC

ETSI:Equipment and system specifications: including ‘spectrum use’ characteristicsRecognised standards body for ‘harmonised standards’Makes ‘System Reference Documents’ which inform and trigger much of the ECC workLargely industry-driven; ‘bottom up’

European Frequency Management Framework

• RSComm

• RSPG

‘EU Telecomms package’:

CommissionParliamentCouncilRadio SpectrumPolicy Programme(RSPP)

2002 Radio Spectrum Decision

Read more athttp://apps.cept.org/eccetsirel/

http://apps.cept.org/eccetsirel/



Role of the ECC in Europe

Consensus and voluntary character:

flexible instrument of the national administrations

• Technical expertise (2002 Radio Spectrum Decision)• EU mechanisms recognise that most regulatory

responsibilities are applied at a national level (European Commission focuses on single market issues)

• Range of subjects: ‘high profile’ and ‘low profile’:

…all are important• Geographical reach• Information focal point

ECC Strategic Plan

Concentrate on:

• Expertise

• The European approach to ITU

• Cooperation with European Commission

• Providing a focal point for information (EFIS etc.)

• Cooperation with other bodies

Strong trends in international frequencymanagement and harmonisation - principles

• Auctions

• Trading

• Sharing versus exclusivity

• Technology and application neutrality

• Impact of convergence


• Auctions: usual for public mobile, otherwise it is uncommon; no use for some technologies and applications

• Trading






• Trading: only ‘big stuff’: no interest for general management/change of use







• Sharing versus exclusivity: regulators versus ‘big’ industry?







• Technology and application neutrality: 1927 revisited?






• Technology and application neutrality: 1927 revisited?

• Impact of convergence: influence, not revolution

Behavioural issues

• Laissez faire versus intervention

• Legal risk aversion

• Media and public perception

• Problems: ”it’s all your fault, not mine”

• ”Radio waves are making me ill”.

Outside Europe

• Culture and context differ, but trends very similar,led by technological opportunity and consumer demand

• Emergence of new regional blocs: Latin America, Africa, Arab

• USA innovative with regulation; remains very structured

• Asia Pacific a very disparate region, but APT is dynamic• work more based around the ITU framework• big world players: China, Japan, India;

all very different from each other

ECC Strategic Plan – priority topics

Concentrate on:

• Digital dividend

• Cognitive radio

• Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR)

• Innovation above 40 MHz

• Numbering and naming

• Improve its own working processes

ECC website topics

• Digital dividend

• Cognitive radio

• Broadcasting

• Short Range Devices

• Numbering and naming

Radio Spectrum Policy Programme – Main Topics

• Mobile broadband

• Spectrum Inventory

• Public protection and disaster relief (internal market)

• Electricty production and distribution (Green...)

• Wireless microphones and cameras

• Foster different modes of spectrum sharing

• Spectrum Trading (where flexible use available)

Some topics with big public impact

• Mobile broadband

• Broadcasting

• Cognitive radio

• Public protection and disaster relief

• Short range devices

ECC addreses big public topics

• Mobile broadband - ECC PT1 (and WG FM) very busy

• Broadcasting - ‘PMSE’ only live topic

• Cognitive radio – WG FM Correspondence group; SE43

• Public protection and disaster relief – FM49

• Short range devices – SRD-MG

Hard facts – the growth of mobile broadband

Jul 2009 Nov 2010Feb 2008Source: internal PT1 report, Sept 2011

Harmonised bands for mobile broadband

800 MHz Digital Dividend up to 60-65 MHz

900MHz GSM -> ECS Band 50-70 MHz

1800MHz GSM -> ECS band 150 MHz

2100 MHz IMT (-> ECS) 160 MHz

2600 MHz IMT (->ECS) 190 MHz

3.4-3.6-3.8 BWA -> mobile 400 MHz

RSPP: ”find 1200 MHz bandwidth”

Broadcasting

• 1 in 5 viewers still use Terrestrial TVin Norway..or is that ‘only’ 20%?

How do you eat salami ?

Radio – going digital but no revolution

Cognitive Radio

• Large interest and commitment• More regulatory work needed for geolocation

(harmonised approach needed)• Geolocation feasible – more regulatory work needed:

(‘keep it simple’)• Business model still uncertain, but it will emerge• Divided opinion on ‘general’ v. ‘specific scenario’ regulation• Main applications all seem to have cheaper alternatives, but

this is quite likely to change- localised Wi-Fi; M2M; rural broadband

ECC workshop, Mainz May 2012, concluded:

Public protection and disaster relief

• For predictable events and unpredictable ones

• TETRA established for PPDR in Europe, typically ‘narrrow band for voice and some data’

• New requirement is for wideband access for ‘video from the scene’, and local LANs ‘at the scene’

• Recognised requirement in RSPP

UHF frequencies

• Mobile broadband is about more than UHF...

But in spectrum politics, UHF is the big issue

• Broadcasting is about more than UHF

• Cognitive Radio is about more than UHF

• PPDR is about more than UHF

Short range devices

Main trends in 5th review of EC Decision:

• Old arrangement – many narrow frequency blocks• New arrangements – more emphasis on wider, more

generic blocks, with similar technical characteristics• Make more use of low latency• Primitive ‘cognitive’ elements – notably location databases

Participating in ECC work: where to start

www.cept.org/ecc

What we’ve covered

[email protected]

www.cept.org/eco

• CEPT, ECC and ECO

• Harmonisation: necessary but not so simple

• Europe: the roles of ECC, ETSI and the EC

• Trends in Spectrum management: principles

• Trends in spectrum management: behaviour

• Outside Europe: more similarities than differences

• Some ‘big’ topics; feeding the iPhones and much more

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.cept.org/eco