The Electronic Communications Committee has approved a set of recommendations to harmonize the 3.4-3.8 GHz and 26 GHz bands for 5G.
March 14, 2018
The Electronic Communications Committee has approved a set of recommendations to harmonize the 3.4-3.8 GHz and 26 GHz bands for 5G.
As is generally the way with European bureaucracies, the ECC is just one component of a broader organizational Russian doll. It appears to be a subset of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) and it is the latter’s proposals that the ECC is happy to have rubber-stamped and handed on to the next link in the chain for further rubber-stamping.
Harmonization, by definition, is a laborious process, requiring the choreographed approval of a bunch of different stakeholders and administrators. The danger of requiring such broad consensus before doing anything is that it can take ages to get anything done and that glacial progress can become so culturally engrained that it becomes very difficult to speed things up when needed.
The hope is that this won’t be the case with 5G, on which Europe is already behind the US and the Far East, and that some bits of the European super-tanker will find a way of moving faster than the rest. Maybe the ECC/CEPT is just such a group, but that remains to be seen, and everything presumably needs sign-off from the European Commission eventually anyway.
“ECC is pleased to support the industry providing the 5G leadership to deliver an accelerated roll-out of 5G to consumers in Europe,” said Eric Fournier, Chairman of the ECC. “ECC is committed to finally adopting the 5G spectrum regulation for the frequency bands 3400-3800 MHz and 26 GHz at its next meeting in July 2018.”
A browse through some of the supporting material offers a glimpse of the Byzantine complexity of getting things done on a pan-European level. Below we’ve copied the latest CEPT roadmap for 5G, for you to enjoy at your leisure.
List of actions (Approved 18 November 2016, Revised 17 November 2017) | Related ECC activity (Updated 2 March 2018) |
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A.1 Review as a matter of urgency the suitability of 3.4-3.8 GHz ECC decision for 5G | Ongoing work within ECC/PT1 (WI PT1_SWG_C_20): revision of ECC/DEC/(11)06 under development for Public Consultation in June 2018. Related work in response to EC Mandate on 5G: Draft CEPT Report 67 approved by ECC#47 for public consultation. |
A.2 Provide guidance to administrations for defragmenting the 3.4-3.8 GHz band, in which there are existing licences in many CEPT countries and for developing plans and intended timescale for the future utilization of this band. | |
A.3.1 Develop an harmonisation decision setting the conditions for the introduction of 5G in the 26 GHz band, taking into account, as appropriate, the compatibility and protection with all existing services in the same and adjacent frequency bands, in particular the protection of current and future EESS/SRS earth stations should be addressed at the European level. | Ongoing work within ECC/PT1 (WI PT1_01): Draft ECC Decision (18)FF approved by ECC#47 for public consultation. Complementary work to facilitate introduction of 5G while ensuring the use of EESS/SRS (WI PT1_15) and FSS earth stations (WI PT1_16). Related work in response to EC Mandate on 5G: Draft CEPT Report 68 approved by ECC#47 for public consultation. |
A.3.2 Develop a tool box to help the national decision process supporting introduction of 5G in 26 GHz with FS in operation providing mechanisms which allow for continued FS operation, where necessary.
| To be considered and developed by ECC PT1 to support to introduction 5G in 26 GHz according to harmonised technical conditions (ECC Decision 26 GHz) |
A.4 Review ECC decisions in MFCN bands to ensure they are suitable for 5G |
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A.5 Consider the impact of future “flexible duplex” on the management of existing FDD bands | ECC/PT1 to consider this issue which is not expected to arise in the short term. |
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B.1 Signal clearly that CEPT supports an IMT Identification in the 24.25 – 27.5 GHz band and intends to harmonise this band in Europe for 5G before WRC-19 through the adoption of an harmonisation decision and to promote it for worldwide harmonisation |
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B.2 Signal clearly that, in addition to the 26 GHz band (see B.1), CEPT considers that the bands 40.5-43.5 GHz and 66-71 GHz have good potential for future harmonisation in Europe. The process for developing harmonisation decisions for the additional bands may be launched immediately after WRC-19. |
Note the band overlap with AI 1.6 (NGSO FSS) and 1.14 (HAPS)).
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B.3 Signal clearly that Europe has harmonised the 27.5-29.5 GHz band for broadband satellite and is supportive of the worldwide use of this band for ESIM. This band is therefore not available for 5G. | |
B.4 Engage in discussions with other regional organisations to facilitate consensus at WRC-19 | CPG activities |
B.5 Encourage mobile industry to express consolidated views on their global spectrum needs |
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B.6 Contribute to ITU-R to consider 5G characteristics so as to enable sharing studies to be carried out in time for WRC-19 |
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C.1 Monitor common use cases for functional requirement of verticals (e.g. PPDR, industrial automation, automotive, utilities, rails, …) which would require spectrum harmonisation measures | To be taken into account by WGFM through monitoring of relevant standardisation activities (e.g. ETSI, 3GPP). |
C.2 Consider how 5G standardisation will accommodate the verticals specific requirements | To be taken into account by ECC/PT1 and WGFM. |
C.3 Investigate the possibility for verticals to share common platforms (e.g., a shared private network or hosted on a mobile operator network) | To be considered by WGFM in its existing activities relating to verticals, e.g. for rail (FM 56). Preliminary discussions in ECC/PT1 relating connectivity by means of MFCN in the band 3.4-3.8 GHz (e.g. for connected cars), in response to the 5G Mandate.
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C.4 Investigate the impact of the use of licensed-exempt regime for critical applications of verticals (e.g. automotive), | WG FM to investigate the matter. |
C.5 Consider the need for spectrum redundancy for mission critical application (e.g. automotive below 6 GHz) | WGFM to consider responding to potential SRDoc when developed by ETSI. |
C.6 Review spectrum regulations applicable to verticals to assess whether these are “5G compatible” | To be considered by ECC/PT1 and WGFM, taking into account the list of harmonisation decisions (and recommendations) for review . |
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D.1 Take into consideration what satellite solutions can bring for 5G | Ongoing activities in FM44 (work item FM44_32): draft ECC Report 280 on satellite solutions for 5G approved by ECC#47 for public consultation. |
D.2 Investigate new sharing opportunities and challenges that new technologies (e.g. MIMO) can bring. | ECC/PT1 to report on this matter, taking into account its work on 24.25-27.5 GHz and 3.4-3.8 GHz |
D.3 Carry out activities on FS channelling in 92-105 GHz band and 130-175 GHz band | |
D.4 Review the conditions applicable to the band 57-66 GHz in order to ensure less restrictive, flexible and streamlined regulations for backhauling as well as for SRDs (WiGig), also taking into account ITS in this frequency range. | |
D.5 Investigate the impact of the use of spectrum for 5G in higher frequency bands (>24 GHz) in relation with general authorization regime, | To be considered by ECC/PT1 in its studies for 26 GHz harmonisation and for future activities as appropriate. |
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