ACMA takes key role
at spectrum summit,
C-band issue
escalates
The Australian
Communications and
Media Authority is
set to take a key
role at a Queensland
event next week that
will shape the
entire Asia-Pacific
position for key
global spectrum
decisions in 2015.
ACMA, along with the
Department of
Communications, will
host the third
Asia-Pacific
Telecommunity
Preparatory Group
Summit, in Brisbane;
ACMA chair Chris
Chapman will deliver
the inaugural
address; and, for
the first time, the
Authority will run a
training workshop
just before the
event for new
participants from
across the region.
But meanwhile, one
of the hottest
issues looming for
the event – the
resurgent clash over
C-band spectrum, and
whether it should be
kept for its
traditional
satellite occupants
or partly
re-assigned to
mobile operators –
continues to gain
momentum. A document
lodged in the run-up
to the Brisbane
summit by Pacific
Island nations, seen
by CommsDay, makes
an impassioned
appeal for developed
nations not to
“sacrifice” the
C-band to
international mobile
telecommunications,
arguing that this
would ultimately
kill satellite
services in the band
completely and
strand Pacific
Island countries
reliant on C-band
satellite.
The APG Summit is a
key milestone in the
lead-in to next
year’s International
Telecommunications
Union World Radio
Communication
Conference in
Geneva, a forum for
many key debates
over spectrum
assignation and
other critical
international radio
communications
issues. With over
350 radcomms leaders
from 32 Asia-Pacific
countries expected
to attend, and
representatives from
the ITU, the
European Conference
of Postal and
Telecommunications
Administrations and
the Inter-
American
Telecommunication
Commission to join
as observers, the
five-day Brisbane
conference is
intended to develop
common proposals and
views for the entire
APAC region to take
to WRC-15.
According to the
Asia-Pacific
Telecommunity, the
APG event has become
one of the body’s
most important
activities, and “has
met exemplary
success in
presenting the views
of the region at
WRCs.”
Because regional
proposals carry much
more influence than
individual country
proposals at the
global WRC events,
the APG summit is
also important in
ensuring that
Australia’s own
position on the
various WRC issues
is supported.
“Australia is
delighted to host
this important
meeting, which
represents a key
milestone in the
lead-up to WRC-15,”
said Chapman. “We
anticipate five days
of intensive
dialogue and
negotiations to
develop Asia-Pacific
technical positions
that will be used at
WRC-15 to identify
new global spectrum
opportunities.”
Agenda items for
WRC-15 include
wireless aviation
electronics, weather
and climate
monitoring,
international
satellite
coordination and new
spectrum for mobile
communications.
C-BAND BATTLE HEATS
UP: One issue that’s
already exploded
into heated debate
ahead of the
Brisbane forum, and
looks set to be a
major focal point at
the event, is the
C-band clash –
falling under agenda
item 1.1 for WRC-15,
which looks at
additional frequency
bands for IMT use.
Mobile players have
revived their bid to
grab a chunk of the
band, arguing that
it will be necessary
to help sate growing
mobile broadband
demands. Satellite
operators already
using the band,
though, say their
mobile opponents are
inflating demand
forecasts; moreover,
they’ve argued that
if terrestrial obile
players start using
the band in some
countries, the
resulting
interference will
essentially render
the band unusable
for satellite
services.
And they contend
that, as that begins
to happen in some
countries, economies
of scale will drop
away for C-band
equipment
manufacturers,
eventually either
killing C-band
satellite completely
or pushing prices
through the roof for
those countries
which rely on it.
That debate, and a
secondary argument
around the ACMA’s
own preliminary
position on it, has
been escalating in
the pages of
CommsDay across
recent weeks.
Dr Bob Horton, an
ex-Australian
Communications
Authority head and
now a satellite
industry lobbyist,
has criticised the
ACMA – which has
actually taken the
preliminary position
that it will not
seek IMT
identification in
3.7-4.2GHz C-band
spectrum – for being
too passive in not
actively opposing
other countries’
efforts to carve out
chunks of C-band.
Ex-ACMA board member
Reg Coutts has
argued that
Australia’s WRC
position must also
take into account
the needs of its
regional neighbours.
However, Dr Andrew
Kerans, until
recently the ACMA’s
executive manager
for spectrum policy
and regulation, has
said that C-band
should be preserved
only in
jurisdictions where
the reliance on
satellites for
interconnectivity is
high – and even that
the ACMA should
support a co-primary
IMT allocation in
the band for
Australia, to give
it the flexibility
to reassign the band
at a later date
without being locked
into the three- or
four-year WRC cycle.
And in the other
camp Brian Louey-Gung,
of the Pacific ICT
Regulatory Resource
Sector, has voiced
the personal opinion
that “authorising
IMT to access C-band
spectrum on a
country-bycountry
basis will be the
start of a slow but
inevitable for
C-band satellite
services,”
ultimately stranding
a number of Pacific
Island countries
totally dependent on
the band, and urged
a broader
international
consideration
emphasising
Australia’s interest
in the Pacific.
Now, CommsDay has
sighted an appeal to
the APT ahead of the
APG summit in
Brisbane from
representatives of
Papua New Guinea,
Fiji, Nauru, the
Solomon Islands and
Tuvalu, recommending
a ‘No Change’
position on the
C-band downlink.
They argue that “If
C-band satellite is
sacrificed to IMT by
developed countries
, then in the medium
to long term,
satellite C-band
services would
cease, and the
Pacific Island
countries which are
heavily reliant on
C-band FSS would
lose their services
completely.”
“Satellite-based
services using
C-band frequencies
in the Pacific
Islands are often
regarded as
“lifeline” services
as they may be the
only service
available in a
remote island
environment,” adds
the Pacific Islands
submission.
“Disruption of these
services would kill
the Pacific Islands’
only form of
critical
communications, as
C-band satellite
beams cannot be
satisfactorily
replaced by Ku-band
or Kaband for cost,
technical and
logistic reasons.
Moreover, economic
development in the
Pacific Islands
would be seriously
harmed without
access to
satellite-based
C-band services.”
Regionally, it’s
been suggested that
at this stage, China
and Iran may be
prepared to help
defend use of the
C-band for
satellite.
The APG Summit will
run throughout next
week from 9-13 June.
Petroc Wilton,
CommsDay
