Annex 2 of the AWF Circular sent on 15 July 2004
Detail Tasks for the Spectrum Working Group of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity Wireless Forum
This annex contains a number of tasks that have been identified as potential tasks for the Spectrum Working Group. These have been developed using the Terms of Reference for the SWG, included in Annex 1, as a base requirement.
These identified tasks are grouped under nine items as follows:
1. Identify spectrum sharing issues, and other related items, within APT member countries.
2. Develop harmonization of planned spectrum usage for radiocommunication systems and development of sharing/ mitigation techniques. Provide advice on spectrum planning.
3. Construct and maintain a database of major radiocommunications systems including operators and IMT-2000 in APT member countries.
4. Monitor international activities concerning global circulation (including development of industry arrangements to facilitate global circulation).
5. Facilitate the coordination of regulatory/policy issues for converging(or boundary) services(e.g. converged systems of broadcasting and telecommunication)within APT member countries.
6. Facilitate satellite system coordination and orbit access.
7. Coordinate efforts to eliminate harmful interference between concerned countries, as appropriate.
8. Studies associated with WRC-07 Agenda Items.
9. Additional particular tasks as identified within the AWF.
These nine items are presented in the following pages with an introduction to the item, comments on possible activities that the SWG could undertake and a possible AWF approach. Under this last aspect a number of questions and related comments are included for your consideration. In this regard, your comments and suggestions are kindly sought on each of the nine items.
In some cases, references are made to other sources of information (via web page addresses) which form part of the discussion on the item concerned.
1. Identify spectrum sharing issues, and other related items, within APT member countries.
1.1 Introduction
This item is very general and is, in a sense, a overview task covering a number of possible detailed tasks that could be addressed by the Spectrum Working Group. Sharing issues could be identified by one or more administrations and, as well, could also arise from other AWF SWG activities, for instance a detailed review of spectrum usage, such as the one envisaged under Item 2.
It would appear that any particular sharing issue studied by the Working Group should be of benefit to a number of APT Member administrations and there could well be a need to prioritize sharing studies once they have been identified. The results of any study need also to be available in a timely manner, both from the point of view of the administrations having requested the study and for the general respect of the AWF itself. In this context we should note that a sharing issue identified by a few administrations may well have flow on benefits to other administrations if their stage of telecommunication development has not yet reached that of the administrations having raised the issue.
1.2 Comments:
This task is very general and a first question is how does that AWF identify issue to be studied? One possibility is to develop a questionnaire to be sent to APT members. This could cover both the identification of issues for study as well as guidelines on how the Working Group could work. In addition, once the AWF Spectrum WG has a more established structure, with contact points in the various APT member countries, these contacts could have a role to collect ideas on issues to be studied. These could then be reviewed by the AWF itself.
For the WG to carry out successful sharing studies administrations would need to be prepared to provide both expertise and the relevant details of the sharing scenario in terms of technical and operational characteristics of the radiocommunication systems concerned. If a particular study is proving to be contentious, administrations would also need to be ready to accept the results of the study; otherwise the effort expended by the experts involved would be wasted. This could lead to the concept of a “sharing experts group” as part of this work whose work would be acceptable to all parties concerned. Such a group would need to have experts from different fields of radiocommunications as sharing issues can arise in a wide variety of situations, especially once the frequency range concerned is taken into account, with all that implies in terms if equipment characteristics and propagation conditions. The need for such expertise will be especially important in cases where new radiocommunication systems are involved in the sharing issue under study.
Discussion on sharing issues and dissemination of information on approaches used and experience gained by administrations could be a standing agenda item for AWF meetings. Administrations could be invited to submit and present material on their experiences in this field. They could suggest matters to be considered under this topic at the meetings
Depending on the sharing study concerned, there could well be a need for a mechanism to allow a study to commence prior to its formal consideration at an AWF meeting. This could be done via use of e-mails or similar communications and an approval mechanism making use of AWF officials in conjunction with the administrations concerned.
1.3 AWF Approach
The approach developed will need to take account of the views of APT Member administrations. Comments and suggestions are sought on the following aspects:
a)Confirmation of the proposed approach: establishment as a standing agenda item, breadth of issues to be considered, development of a questionnaire – are there any limits on issues that could be discussed on a regional basis;
b)Can national policy decisions on sharing and related discussion papers be made available for use at AWF meetings, by any expert group associated with a particular sharing study and for dissemination to other APT administrations;
c)Establishment of “expert groups”: ability of your administration to provide experts for this work.
Comments and suggestions on aspects not covered above are also welcome.
Administrations are also invited to provide the name of a contact person who will be responsible for ongoing relations with the AWF in this area.
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2. Develop harmonization of planned spectrum usage for radiocommunication systems and development of sharing/ mitigation techniques. Provide advice on spectrum planning.
2.1 Introduction
This activity is perhaps the most broadly based activity of both the AWF and the Spectrum Working Group. Work in this area can become very detailed and complex and the nature of the work to be undertaken and its level of detail would need to be carefully assessed in respect of the benefits likely to accrue from the effort that AWF decides to expend on this activity.
Harmonization of planned spectrum usage is understood to be a desire to move toward common or, alternatively, harmonised use (in terms of system applications) in the region of the different frequency bands. The more that this usage is common or harmonised, it could be expected that coordination between countries would be facilitated and simplified and that interference problems would be minimised. Furthermore, adoption of agreed sharing/mitigation techniques for particular sharing situations would also lead to facilitating and simplifying such coordination. Implicit in this approach is an acceptance that the effort in harmonising spectrum usage[1] would be more that outweighed by the benefits that accrue. These benefits, in addition to facilitation and simplification of coordination of spectrum usage between APT Member administrations, would include, indirectly, the benefits of economies of scale in terms of system implementations as manufacturers and industry would have the opportunity to develop systems and equipment for a broader market.
It is important to note that activity in this area, associated with harmonisation of the usage of the different frequency bands by the different system applications, is an issue separate from that of deciding on the allocations themselves. Allocation decisions, in terms of both international allocation decisions, which are addressed by the ITU in World Radiocommunication Conferences, as well as national allocation decisions, are considered outside the scope of the AWF’s work.
2.2 Comments
In principle any harmonisation process starts with collecting the existing and planned spectrum usage in all member administrations, collating this information and then reviewing the assembled information with the goal of developing a common or harmonised approach to future spectrum usage in the region. This process implies a substantial amount of correspondence and consultation between the responsible experts in administrations to which would need to be added a series of regular review meetings as appropriate. Perhaps the most important aspect of any harmonisation activity is the level of detail to be addressed.
AWF could consider taking, as a basis, the example of the CEPT, who, using the facilities of the European Radiocommunications Office (ERO), performed a detailed usage review with the view of developing a harmonised approach across their region. This would be a medium term activity for the AWF with potential important benefits.
The ERO carried out three studies, which they called a Detailed Spectrum Investigation (DSI), covering the bands:
DSI Phase I – 3400 MHz to 105 GHz
DSI Phase II – 29.7 to 960 MHz
DSI Phase III – 862 to 3400 MHz
These DSI Reports can be found on the ERO web site (see under the heading Topics/Projects). The European Radiocommunications Committee (ERC)[2], established under the CEPT, agreed to use the Detailed Spectrum Investigation process as a means to achieving forward planning and harmonization of the radio frequency spectrum in Europe. One of the major results of the DSI consultation process was the establishment of a Common European Frequency Allocation Table (ECA). The ECA contains the agreed European Common Allocations and the major utilizations of the frequency bands to be implemented in Europe by the year 2008[3] although it is expected that CEPT member countries will endeavour to implement as many parts of the Table as possible before that date.
If this type of investigation is chosen as an AWF activity it would be necessary to break such a review into manageable parts. The ERO experience seems to indicate that they worked in order of increasing difficulty, which is understandable. However, there seems to be an early need to look at the usage in at least some of the bands covered by what ERO did in Phase III as a priority in the APT region; as some sub-bands of this frequency range are already identified as cases where studies are required (see Items 8 and 9). There is always the concern that, in reviewing such sub-bands in relative isolation in advance, the AWF may not be necessarily arriving at a “best result” overall – care will be needed. It may be necessary to agree that any of these “specific” or “specialist” reviews would always need to take account of the larger overall objectives of the wider spectrum usage review.
It can also be noted that such a task would be complicated by the large differences between the stages of development in the usage of the bands concerned across the countries of the region; this could be taken as a positive challenge and not as a negative factor. The AWF is especially expected, it seems, to provide guidance to those countries which are not at the forefront of developments – this is in fact an encouragement to do the work well.
With respect to the aspect of development of sharing/mitigation techniques and providing advice on spectrum planning, these seem to be a logical flow on from such reviews and AWF could develop material based on that developed by member countries and on their experiences.
This activity would be closely associated with the work, being managed by the APT Secretariat, on the construction andmaintenance of a database of major radiocommunications systems including operators and IMT-2000 in APT member countries – see Item 3 below. This data base would be a complimentary development to the spectrum usage reviews discussed here.
2.3 AWF approach
The approach developed will need to take account of the views of APT Member administrations. Comments and suggestions are sought on the following aspects:
a)What should the nature of any detailed spectrum usage review?
Would the APT/AWF be moving toward a common planned future usage of the relevant frequency bands in the region?
What would be the time frame for implementation of any agreed future usage – [10] years from now or another time frame?
Which bands should this review be limited to – e.g. above 30 MHz, as in the CEPT/ERO case?
What should be the level of detail in the bands reviewed – agreed uses, compatible uses, alternate uses, etc.?
b)Would the review develop transitional arrangements when changes are seen to be necessary, including timing recommendations?
c)With respect to development of sharing/mitigation techniques and providing advice on spectrum planning, can your administration provide material for use by APT/AWF and member administrations?
Do you have experts available to help in sharing/mitigation studies?
Comments and suggestions on aspects not covered above are also welcome.
Administrations are also invited to provide the name of a contact person who will be responsible for ongoing relations with the AWF in this area.
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3. Construct and maintain a database of major radiocommunications systems including operators and IMT-2000 in APT member countries[4].
3.1 Introduction
This activity is also a broadly based activity for both the AWF and the Spectrum Working Group. This database, once developed, would be a very useful tool for APT Members, especially those who are considering the introduction of new services and systems and who would like to benefit from the experience of other Members who are at a more advanced stage of development of their radiocommunication systems. Other entities, such as industry and operators, would also be able to benefit from this work.
This task is seen as largely one that would be handled by the APT Secretariat. The AWF would need to give adequate guidelines to the Secretariat in order that the database being developed satisfies the needs of Members. A small group drawn from APT membership may be needed to coordinate this work with the Secretariat.
This work, being closely associated with the harmonisation of spectrum usage, could also incorporate agreed band plans for regional usage[5].
3.2 Comments
Work in this area can become very detailed and would be closely related with that discussed under “Harmonisation of Spectrum Usage” (see Item 2). It is apparent that a detailed spectrum review would be based on the same or similar data as that which would be included in the task considered here. In that sense the AWF could profit from the complimentarity of the two tasks.
As in the case of harmonization of spectrum usage, the nature of the work to be undertaken and its level of detail would need to be carefully assessed in respect of the benefits likely to accrue from the effort that AWF decides to expend on this activity. The contribution from APT Member administrations is vital, and the amount of work involved for them would depend on the extent to which they have the relevant detailed information already available. Material in electronic format would clearly be most useful, as it would avoid manual transcription.
A possible format for the database is presented in Attachment 1. This is based on the Frequency Allocation Table for Region 3, taken from Article 5 of the ITU’s Radio Regulations. Associated with the Region 3 Table would be national tables, including national footnotes. Hyperlinks are proposed to link the allocation information in the Table with details of usage in the countries concerned. Hyperlinks could also be used to provide the texts of footnotes. Links could also access agreed band plans, as mentioned above.
A further use of hyperlinks could be to link the table to national administration web sites for the more detailed information. Links could also be made to other reference material (e.g. ITU-R Recommendations, equipment manufacturer’s sites, sites of national or regional standardization organizations, etc.).
In terms of presentation, a printed version of the proposed Table may prove unwieldy, once many national columns are incorporated. On the other hand, electronic access should be straightforward. Electronic access would also allow extraction of subsets of the Table.
Once the concept is agreed, it will be necessary to define the material to be provided by administrations and, where feasible, its format. It may well be that the information held nationally is different formats, depending on the frequency bands concerned.
3.3 AWF approach
The approach developed will need to take account of the views of APT Member administrations. Comments and suggestions are sought on the following aspects:
a)Would the proposed database concept/structure provide the required information and the necessary associated access to relevant details?
Are there general or particular aspects that the structure should take into account?
What should be the level of detail to be provided[6]?
b)Could your administration provide the relevant detailed information/data, preferably in electronic format, once the details on concept and structure are agreed[7]?
Are there bands or parts of the spectrum where initial efforts should be concentrated?
Furthermore, should the database cover all bands? Initially? Eventually?
Are there copyright or exclusivity issues that need to be taken into account?