WASHINGTON-The World Radiocommunication Conference is a lot like the Olympics: preparations for the next one start almost before the current event has ended. And, like the athletes who competed earlier this year in Nagano, Japan, are preparing for the 2000 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the wireless industry and federal policy makers, who last year participated in the WRC in Geneva, are gearing up for the WRC in Istanbul, Turkey, in the spring of 2000.
The analogy goes even further. Radio spectrum allocations are a lot like gold medals. Those who don’t win them come back time and time again to get them.
This is the case with some in the mobile satellite service community, which wants to share frequency allocations occupied by private wireless users and global positioning system technology providers. MSS carriers, which want to deploy their systems in the emerging age of global communications, have been trying since before WRC ’97 to gain coveted frequencies and today are working on three fronts to “win” in 2000.
The three arenas are the advisory committee process at the Federal Communications Commission, international regional forums like the Inter-American Telecommunications Commission, known as CITEL, and the International Telecommunication Union. ITU Study Group 8 deals with mobile technologies.
Regional forums like CITEL are important to garner early international acceptance of spectrum allocation proposals because the more countries that support a plan, the more likely that plan is to pass.
Sharing at 450 MHz
At the conclusion of most WRCs, the ITU is directed to conduct technical studies on outstanding issues. Sharing in the 450-470 MHz band is one such issue the ITU Study Group 8 is studying in preparation for WRC 2000.
“It really is a three-ring circus,” said Thomas J. Keller, an attorney representing the Association of American Railroads. AAR is one of many private wireless users skeptical that proposed sharing in the 450-470 MHz band is feasible. “It is like crab grass. This issue won’t go away,” said Mark Crosby, president of the Industrial Telecommunications Association.
Leo One, which has been pushing the sharing proposal, believes the “probability of interference is low” because there are many unused channels in the land mobile band, said Dr. Edward F. Miller, regulatory consultant for Leo One. Miller, however, would not comment on what impact the FCC’s refarming proceeding would have on the availability of these currently unused channels in the future.
Sharing at 1.5 GHz
As important as the 450-470 MHz band may be to the MSS carriers, this issue is not considered by federal policy makers to be as hot as the controversial sharing plan for the GPS band located at 1559-1610 MHz. GPS sharing is not expected, however, to be as contentious as it was in 1997 when the United States had to work magic to get the WRC to agree to study the issue rather than allocating the spectrum for sharing.
The Federal Aviation Administration is concerned about any sharing occurring in the 1559-1610 MHz band. WRC ’97 agreed to conduct technical studies to see whether sharing is possible and/or feasible in this band. The United States is withholding judgment until the studies are completed.
3G spectrum allocation
A final issue starting to boil is a spectrum allocation for third-generation wireless technologies. This issue is expected to be previewed at the ITU’s Plenipotentiary Meeting this fall in Minneapolis.
Another issue at the Plenipotentiary will be to set the final date for WRC 2000. It originally was scheduled for the fall of 1999 but since has been pushed back to spring 2000. The final date is expected to be in April but has not been officially scheduled. Istanbul, Turkey, has indicated a desire to host WRC 2000 but that also will be decided in Minneapolis.
This date will set the timetable for WRC preparations. The FCC is reviewing ongoing preliminary comments, which will be melded together with requests from other government agencies such as the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Department of State.
Draft proposals will be released by the United States approximately six months before WRC, at which point the United States will complete negotiations with international forums. Any negotiated settlements then will be supplanted for individual country proposals at WRC.
