For four weeks, leaders from around the world assembled in Geneva, Switzerland to compile years of research and produce new regulations on how to best use the finite resource that modern telecommunications relies on: spectrum. WRC-15 produced several significant decisions impacting the satellite industry and the Information and Mobile Technology (IMT) industry.
Making the Call
Of the 3.4 to 4.2 GHz of spectrum being considered, the IMT industry gained near-global access to 3.4 to 3.6 GHz. Francois Rancy, director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau, said: “The results of this conference are very well balanced for all parties. They offer significant additional spectrum for IMT in a globally harmonized way while maintaining certainty for the current satellite allocations.”
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The IMT industry gained about 400 MHz of spectrum total, with roughly half coming from C-band. Aarti Holla Maini, secretary general of ESOA, says: “We are not happy about the loss of this portion of the C-band, which many satellite operators still do make good use of, but in terms of a compromise this was as good as it was going to get.”
“The main reason why the issue of C-band has been difficult is the earth stations deployed for receive-only purposes and not registered,” Rancy explains, adding that government administrations need to do better at applying regulations.
Reactions and Responses
The GSMA welcomed the decision at WRC-15 to identify 3.4 to 3.6 GHz for mobile broadband in most of the world. The compromise identifies this spectrum in ITU Region 1 (Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Russia); plus country-specific footnotes for 3.6 to 3.7 GHz in the Americas (Region 2); and select countries in Region 3.
John Medeiros, chief policy officer at CASBAA, calls C-band satellite transmissions “the essential backbone of the Asian broadcasting industry.”
Collaborating for the Future
“With the most recent WRC decisions finalized, our industry has already begun reaching out to IMT interests to redouble our focus on the strong synergies that exist between wireless and satellite technologies,” says Dave Hartshorn, secretary general of GVF.
Holla Maini emphasized the need for a level playing field: “The satellite sector has been accused many times of not being ready to compromise and work together, but when compromise means taking from one and giving to another without anything in return, then it is not really a compromise at all.”
The satellite industry avoided chagrin at WRC-15, and made many gains, including new spectrum in Ku-band and studies on the use of higher frequency bands. VS
Caleb Henry is the assistant editor for Via Satellite magazine.
