Australian Mobile, Radio &Spectrum Australian Mobile, Radio &Spectrum Developments since GSC 7/RAST 10Developments since GSC 7/RAST 10

GSC 8, April 2003

Peter Darling

(Presented by Grant Symons)

International Manager

Australian Communications Industry Forum

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Australian Radio Standardisation Work

Work in Australia on radio and spectrum standardisation is split between a number of bodies

– ACIF

– Standards Australia

– The government regulator, the Australian Communications Authority (and its industry-based bodies)

This contribution covers this work in some GRSC High Interest areas

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International Standards

• The radcom (and telecom) systems used in Australia are generally based on use of international or regional standards

• In some cases, radcom standards are not directly mandated by the regulator– For example, the owner of a Spectrum Licence is

able to use their spectrum in any way, as long as boundary conditions (such as interference to other users) are met

– In practice, the spectrum allocated determines the standard e.g for cellular mobile systems GSM in 900 & 1800 MHz, CDMA2000 in 800 MHz

This is normal practice in our region, where European and North American standards work side-by-side

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Mobile Issues (1)

• Current mobile spectrum usage across Australia is– 800 MHz CDMA-One technology

One national licenceOne regional licence in useOne regional licence allocated

– 900 MHz GSM/GPRS technologyThree national licences

– 1800 MHz GSM/GPRS technologyThree national licences (paired with900 MHz licences)One regional licence in use,one regional licence previously used

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Mobile Issues (2)

“3G” spectrum was auctioned in March 2001, and has been be available for use since late 2002 after clearance of previous microwave users. The auction resulted in

– Unpaired spectrum 4 capital city licences1900-1920 MHz (each 5 MHz)

– Paired spectrum 3 national licences1920-1980 & 2110-2170 in Capital Cities

2 licences covering major cities

One successful applicant has recently launched a UMTS system, and another is using 1xRTT technology in association with a CDMAOne system at 800 MHz. Other spectrum owners are delaying launching service.

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Mobile Issues (3)

ACIF has been granted Observer status in 3GPP and 3GPP2, but has not been active.

ACIF members are active in the ITU-T and ITU-R work on IMT-2000, as well as ASTAP/APT 3G work

Interworking between the different IMT-2000 family members is a matter of future concern, particularly for end-to-end support of non-voice (IP based) services

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EMC and EMR

• A companion paper covers recent Australian work on a Human Exposure Standard (EMR) and a related Code of Practice (as well as EMC work) Ref. GSC-8-42

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Intelligent Transportation Systems

ITS Implementation for Electronic Tolling is well advanced in Australia.

Further work on ITS in Australia is being undertaken by a committee of Standards Australia (IT-023 Transport Information and Control Systems)

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Digital Television

Australia introduced digital television, starting on 1 January 2001. Government policy provides that:

• Existing terrestrial broadcasters must provide digital television from 1 January 2001 in metropolitan areas and over a phased period until 1 January 2004 in other areas

• Broadcasters have been provided additional spectrum to simulcast programs in digital and analogue modes for at least 8 years from the commencement of digital transmissions (at which time analogue services are expected to cease).

• Broadcasters will be required to offer both high definition digital (HDTV) and standard definition digital (SDTV) broadcasts, but have some restrictions on multi-channeling

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Digital Television (2)

Technical Standards

• The Australian technical standards for digital TV are based on DVB-T standards, with 7 MHz channel spacing and Dolby AC3 sound

• Standards AS 4599-1999 and AS4933.1-2000 (from Standards Australia) provide a detailed technical specification of broadcasting and receiver requirements

• There has been agreement to use the Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) standards for EPG and STB.

Market Acceptance

• Initial sales of domestic digital equipment have been slow, with little additional digital content to drive change and an analogue system generally giving good technical quality.

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Public Protection and Disaster Relief

• A companion paper covers recent Australian work in this area Ref. GSC-8-045