11 World Radiocommunication Conference
2003
| (24472)
8480/03
COM(03) 183
| Commission Communication on the World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03).
|
| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 14 April 2003
|
| Deposited in Parliament | 2 May 2003
|
| Department | Trade and Industry
|
| Basis of consideration | EM of 19 May 2003
|
| Previous Committee Report | None
|
| To be discussed in Council | 5 June Telecoms Council
|
| Committee's assessment | Politically important
|
| Committee's decision | Cleared
|
Background
11.1 World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRCs) are held by the
International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a Specialized Agency
of the UN, about every three years. Their function is to update
the International Radio Regulations and to decide future radio
frequency allocations and sharing arrangements. WRCs take account
of the latest technical and commercial developments in radio communications
systems and networks generally. Their output, in the form of
Final Acts, forms an international treaty signed by governments.
Each WRC covers a large number of issues, each of which present
both threats and opportunities for UK interests.
11.2 About 150 of the ITU's 188 member states generally participate
in a WRC. Most decisions are reached by consensus but voting
is occasionally resorted to, in which case each country has one
vote. In order to use the numerical strength of the European
countries, as well as in the interests of European harmonisation
in radio spectrum management, preparations for WRCs over the past
12 years or so have been increasingly coordinated at the European
level.
11.3 European preparations for WRCs are co-ordinated as part of
the remit of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications
Administrations (known by the Fench acronym CEPT). In 1994, CEPT
established a Conference Prepartory Group (CPG) to plan and co-ordinate
European preparations for the WRCs. CEPT membership now extends
to 45 European countries and covers the entire European continent,
including all EU Member States. The European Commission has observer
status at the ITU.
11.4 The European Commission's involvement in WRCs is based on
Council Conclusions, starting in 1992. It is expected to:
· ensure
compliance of the European positions with relevant Community policies,
prior to and at the conference;
· involve
industry and other organisations in developing European positions
and encourage European industry to propose initiatives;
· maintain
contacts with third countries to promote European objectives;
and
· strengthen
the negotiating position of the EU and achieve results which are
to the benefit of the European economy and its citizens.
The Communication
11.5 WRC-03 will take place in Geneva between 9
June and 4 July 2003.
11.6 In its introduction to the Communication, the
Commission comments that :
"negotiations at the WRC are mainly of a technical/regulatory
nature, with political and industrial policy implications which
are at times somewhat hidden or understated. Many issues are
discussed at the Conference in great technical detail without
any explicit connections with underlying policies. 'Simple explanations'
of WRC agenda items are therefore often difficult".
11.7 The Minister for E-Commerce and Competitiveness
(Mr Stephen Timms) comments in his Explanatory Memorandum that
the European Common Proposals, drawn up by CEPT, are the result
of nearly three years of intense preparations. The DTI/Radiocommunications
Agency was fully involved in the process and led on some issues.
In parallel, the UK's International Frequency Planning Group followed
the work in CEPT and agreed the UK positions in its Conference
Preparatory Group which plans and coordinates European preparations
for the WRCs.
11.8 The Minister summarises the key issues, from
a European Community policy point of view, as:
· "IMT-2000/UMTS[49]
and beyond: The objective at WRC-03 is
to ensure that there is sufficient spectrum available to support
the extension of 3rd generation mobile communication
networks in the medium term, especially through encouraging the
global uptake of the extension band chosen by Europe, whilst looking
to assess the long-term needs of planned follow-on-technology
(WRC-03 agenda items 1.22 & 1.34).
· Radionavigation-satellite
systems (GALILEO): The objective at WRC-03
is to confirm the availability of the spectrum secured at WRC-2000,
and to set sharing conditions between other systems and services
in the identified frequency bands such that the full operability
of GALILEO is assured. (WRC agenda item 1.15).
· Public
protection/disaster relief: The objective
at WRC-03 is to secure outcomes that support the co-ordination
of Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) operations across
the community, and wider; with special attention to equipment
interoperability — thereby improving the long term co-ordination
of European civil protection teams.
· Alternative
wireless infrastructure platforms: The
objective at WRC-03 is to identify frequency bands, especially
at global level, suitable for the operation of wireless communication
platforms, including Radio Local Area Networks (RLANs) and a variety
of other short range devices, and to encourage the use of interference
mitigation techniques developed in Europe.
· Future
WRC agendas: The objective at WRC-03 is
to turn back the trend towards inflated WRC agendas, which over-burden
the conference process, resulting in dissatisfaction with outcomes
and unsustainable pressure on ITU resources. Several suggestions,
notably from Europe, have been made on how to rationalise future
WRCs, including limiting the number of agenda items; restricting
the 'rolling nature' of many items; placing precise limits on
the scope of agenda items; and having a comprehensive rationale
to support new proposals, including assessment of burden on ITU-R
administrative and financial resources".
11.9 The Commission seeks, in advance of the Conference,
to obtain the endorsement of the Council for the Community's policy
objectives. It also seeks to enlist the support of the Member
States for the key objectives, which it highlights as:
· protecting
the allocations gained in WRC-2000 by IMT-2000 and GALILEO;
· making progress
towards regionally and globally harmonised frequencies for Public
Protection and Disaster Relief systems; and
· supporting
the establishment of alternative wireless infrastructure platforms.
Of particular importance is a globally harmonised status for
the spectrum bands identified in Europe for Radio Local Area Networks
(RLAN).
11.10 On protecting additional IMT-2000 (3G)[50]
spectrum, the Commission explains that it is essential to ensure
that IMT-2000 can operate, protected from harmful interference.
This requires that the additional spectrum bands for which Europe
has made a first choice are as little affected as possible by
non-GSO (Geostationary Orbit) BSS (sound) satellites. Some of
the proposed BSS (sound) systems will have highly elliptical orbits,
increasing the likelihood of interference with terrestrial services
in many other countries, given the extended line-of-sight visibility
of these systems. A satellite of this type serving Japan could
be "visible" from Europe and cause interference.
11.11 In the case of GALILEO, the Commission explains
that the technical characteristics of the frequency allocation
granted to satellite navigation in WRC-00 need to be confirmed
at WRC-03. It is essential to ensure that the frequencies can
be used in such a way as to enable GALILEO to provide all its
planned services.
11.12 The Commission invites the Member States, as
negotiating parties, to:
· take due account
throughout the Conference of the Community's policy objectives,
as set out in the Communication; and to
· do their utmost
to co-sign the European Common Proposals, particularly in the
three key areas mentioned above.
11.13 Following WRC-03, the Commission will issue
a Communication on the results, with regard to Community policies.
The Government's view
11.14 The Minister notes that the Communication is
similar to those issued before WRC-97 and WRC-2000. The Commission
gives broad support to the policy objectives of the European Common
Proposals (ECPs) and invites Member States to co-sign them.
11.15 The Government welcomes the Communication in
broad terms. It considers that it provides a full account of
the issues to be addressed and correctly highlights the Community
priorities.
11.16 With regard to the procedure followed, the
Minister comments:
"The Government gives its full support to the
existing CEPT co-ordination procedures which have proved particularly
successful at previous WRCs. Because radio transmissions cannot
be confined within national borders, geographical rather than
political considerations are of primary importance in the international
co-ordination of radio plans, and therefore CEPT (with its 45
members) provides a broader based forum than that provided by
the Community alone. Most European countries now rely extensively
on the CEPT preparations to determine their national positions.
Furthermore, since each ITU member state has one vote at a WRC,
agreement at CEPT level creates a strong bargaining and voting
power for Europe vis-á-vis third regions and countries.
In deciding the course of action on the Communication,
the Government's objective will be to combine the strengths of
CEPT and the European Commission to the best effect".
11.17 The Minister regrets that the Communication
was made available "rather later than desirable".
Conclusion
11.18 The priorities and positions set out have
been fully discussed with the major interested parties in this
country. We have had no indication that there is any dissatisfaction
with the proposals, in broad terms, so we now clear the document.
49 International Mobile Telecommunications for the
year 2000 /Universal Mobile Telecommunications System. Back
50
Third Generation mobile communications. Back
| 
