ITU-R Working Party 8F: Questionnaire on possible terrestrial candidate frequency bands for the future development of IMT-2000 and systems beyond IMT-2000

At the IV PCC.II Meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, December 6 – 9, 2004, Decision PCC.II/DEC 25 (IV-04) was taken to have the CITEL Secretariat request that Member States and associate members answer the ITU-R WP 8F Questionnaire on possible terrestrial candidate frequency bands for the future development of IMT-2000 and systems beyond IMT-2000, and send a copy of their answer to the CITEL Secretariat and to the Rapporteur for this activity. The Rapporteur is to provide a summary of the answers to the V Meeting of PCC.II scheduled for Guatemala April 26-29, 2005.

In order to provide interested parties additional background on the Questionnaire, some text from the Chairman of ITU-R Study Group 8 to the Director of Radiocommunication Bureau contained in the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau Administrative Circular CACE/329, dated December 7, 2004, is provided as follows:

The fourteenth meeting of ITU-R Working Party 8F, 13 to 20 October 2004, finalized a “Questionnaire on possible terrestrial candidate frequency bands for the future development of IMT-2000 and systems beyond IMT-2000”. It was prepared by Working Party 8F in response to WRC-07 Agenda Item 1.4. It is necessary to obtain the information requested in the Questionnaire to proceed with this agenda item. The 220 participants at the meeting, representing some 25 Member States and 57 Sector Members/Associates, unanimously approved the Questionnaire and requested that it be sent out as a Circular Letter.

Additional background on Agenda Item 1.4 is as follows: WARC-92 and WRC-2000 identified frequency bands for IMT 2000 for possible use on a worldwide basis (i.e. 806-960 MHz, 1710-2025 MHz, 2110-2200 MHz and 2500-2690 MHz). WRC 07 Agenda item 1.4 and Resolution 228 (Rev.WRC-03) call for “Studies on frequency related matters for the future development of IMT 2000 and systems beyond IMT-2000 as defined by ITU R”. ITU-R WP 8F is responsible for the WRC-07 preparations for this Agenda item and is studying in that respect several aspects including: the mobile market and services expected to be used from around 2010 to 2020; the methodology to estimate spectrum requirements; the radio aspects of the future development of IMT-2000 and systems beyond IMT-2000; the spectrum requirements estimated using the methodology developed, the forecast for the market and services and the radio aspects envisaged; and finally, potential candidate frequency bands to address these requirements.

One of the primary tasks of WP 8F is to consider potential frequency ranges that could accommodate any additional spectrum requirements that may be needed to support the future development of IMT-2000 and systems beyond IMT-2000. In this regard, the above mentioned Questionnaire was developed and the responses will be used in the deliberations of WP 8F in the determination of potential frequency bands for which studies will be performed and in the elaboration of CPM text detailing information on these frequency bands. It was agreed to discuss the responses at the next PCC.II meeting in Guatemala.

The Questionnaire is divided into two parts, a general “Part 1” and additional questions in “Part 2”. Part 1 addresses the bands that have already been identified by WARC-92 and WRC-2000, investigates possible candidate bands for new mobile capabilities of systems beyond IMT-2000 intended to provide peak data rates up to 100 Mbit/s, possible candidate bands for new nomadic capabilities of systems beyond IMT-2000 intended to provide peak data rates up to 1 Gbit/s, the possibility to identify additional bands below those already identified (below 806 MHz in Region 2 and 3), and sharing studies that would need to be performed in order to assess the protection of existing services in the potential candidate bands. Part 2 of the Questionnaire considers the possible impact of developments in technology and regulation relating to spectrum usage and potential candidate bands.

On behalf of PCC.II and in particular the Terrestrial Fixed and Mobile Radiocommunication Working Group, CITEL Member States and associate members are urged to submit responses to the Questionnaire, as this is an opportunity for the needs of CITEL Member States to be reflected in the important work being done by WP 8F concerning the future development of IMT-2000 and systems beyond IMT-2000.

Your response to the Questionnaire (partial responses are also welcome) by April 1st, 2005, will be greatly appreciated. They should be sent to the CITEL Secretariat (Tel. +1 202 458 3004, Fax. +1 202 458 6854, e-mail: citel@oas.org) and the Rapporteur, Ms. Molly Gavin (Tel. + 1(858)651-6462, Fax. + 1(858) 658-2011, E-mail: mgavin@qualcomm.com). Again the Questionnaire can be found here: Administrative Circular CACE/329.

Molly Gavin
Rapporteur
Terrestrial Fixed and Mobile
Radiocommunication Working Group