SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT RRC-04/06 · RRC for the revision of the EBA ST61 in the bands 174 - 230 MHz and 470 - 862 MHz1, to be held in two sessions. In addition, Member States from the

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Elena Puigrefagut and Terry O’LearyEBU Technical Department

The ITU Regional Radio Conference, RRC-04/06, was convened to update theStockholm 1961 and Geneva 1989 VHF/UHF television broadcasting Plans for theEuropean and African Broadcasting Areas, respectively. It takes account of thespectrum needs for digital radio and television terrestrial services in the Europeanand African Broadcasting Areas, and also in neighbouring areas.

The first Session, RRC-04, was completed in May 2004 and this article provides anoverview of the progress made in establishing the planning criteria and parametersfor the later second Session, RRC-06, to be held in 2006.

BackgroundDigital broadcasting (DVB and DAB, for example) holds the promise of providing more television andradio programmes with vastly improved quality, as well as a more efficient use of the availablebroadcasting spectrum. The foundation for all terrestrial television broadcasting in the EuropeanBroadcasting Area (EBA) has been the Stockholm '61 Agreement (ST61), a frequency plan foranalogue services. To fully exploit the potential of digital technology, a new frequency plan would berequired.

Early in the year 2000, CEPT Administrations requested the ITU to consider convening a RegionalRadiocommunication Conference (RRC) for the revision of ST61 for EBA countries in order to facili-tate the rapid introduction of digital broadcasting in Europe. In response to an ensuing letter fromthe Secretary General of the ITU in August 2000, an overwhelming majority of the countries of theEBA indicated their support for the proposed revision.

At the 2001 session of the ITU Council, Member States resolved (Resolution 1185) to convene anRRC for the revision of the EBA ST61 in the bands 174 - 230 MHz and 470 - 862 MHz 1, to be heldin two sessions. In addition, Member States from the planning area of the Regional Agreement forVHF/UHF television broadcasting (GE89) in the African Broadcasting Area (ABA) and neighbouringcountries also expressed the wish to convene an RRC for the same purposes as those of Resolution1185, and to combine it with the conference referred to (Resolution 1180).

Eventually (in Council Resolution 1224 – this replaced and superseded Resolution 1185 as modifiedat the 2003 ITU Council), the decision was taken to convene the relevant RRC for the “planning ofthe digital terrestrial broadcasting service 2 in Region 1 (parts of Region 1 to the west of meridian

1. Note that in the text to follow the terms “Band III” and “Bands IV/V” will implicitly refer to the frequencyranges 174 - 230 MHz and 470 - 862 MHz, respectively.

RRC-04/06— an overview of the first Session (RRC-04)

EBU TECHNICAL REVIEW – October 2004 1 / 13E. Puigrefagut and T. O’Leary

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170°E and to the north ofparallel 40°S) and in the IslamicRepublic of Iran, in the bands174 - 230 MHz and 470 - 862MHz, in two sessions”. Fig. 1shows the extent of the plan-ning area.

The first Session, RRC-04 (heldin Geneva in May 2004), was toestablish the technical basis(planning criteria and parame-ters) for the new plan. Thesecond Session, RRC-06 (to beheld in Geneva in 2006), is toadopt the New Agreement andassociated Frequency Plans.

On the basis of a proposal fromthe Director of the ITU-BR,ITU-R Study Group 6 decidedto establish a Task Group (TG 6/8) to prepare a report to the first Session of the RRC. The reportwas to deal with planning concepts, technical criteria, compatibility, planning tools and exercises,amongst other items, and was to be prepared on the basis of contributions from Administrations,Study Groups, observers etc.

In order to aid the task of developing the necessary technical and planning basis:the EBU established two Project Groups, one (B/CP-R) dealing with the relevant T-DAB (radio)planning issues, and the other (B/CP-T) dealing with those of DVB-T (television);the CEPT established a Project Team (WGFM PT 24) dealing with both T-DAB and DVB-T.

The EBU and CEPT cooperated closely in this work.

On the basis of contributions from the EBU, the CEPT and some Administrations, TG 6/8 draftedand eventually submitted a “Report to the Regional Radiocommunication Conference 2004”.Further contributions to RRC-04 were also submitted, independently, by the EBU, the CEPT andsome Administrations.

The RRC-04The RRC-04 started on 10 May 2004 in Geneva, attended by around 800 participants from 95different countries: it lasted for three weeks. The first issue that the Conference had to deal with wasthe selection of the Chairmanship of the Conference. During the preparatory meetings prior to theConference, the Heads of Delegation had not reached an agreement on the Chairmanship and, onthe opening day, there was no Chairman. The ITU Secretary-General proposed that the conferencebe opened by Mr Krivocheev (Russian Federation), Dean of the conference. The Secretary-General announced that, at the meeting of Heads of Delegation, it had been proposed that the Deanof the conference act as chairman of the conference. Only the four Vice-Chairmen were elected andthe structure of the Conference was agreed.

Further negotiations took place and a compromise agreement was reached during the third day ofthe Conference. It was recommended that the Plenary proceed with the election of two additionalVice-Chairmen of the Conference. The candidates were Mr Arasteh from the Islamic Republic ofIran and Mr Van Diepenbeek from the Netherlands. In the absence of the Chairman,

2. This includes planning for both T-DAB and DVB-T.

40° S

170° E

Figure 1The extent of the planning area for the RRC-06


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Mr Krivocheev (who was urgently called away), those two Vice-Chairmen substituted for theChairman and acted as Chairmen of the RRC-04. What began as a difficult start for the RRC-04,worked out quite well and the result of the Conference did not suffer from any divergences betweenthe two acting Chairmen, although they were from different geographical areas.

What was much clearer from the start was the structure of the Conference. The work was dividedbetween a working group of the plenary and six committees:

Committee 1 – Steering Committee;Committee 2 – Credentials Committee;Committee 3 – Budget Control Committee;Committee 4 – Technical Committee;Committee 5 – Planning Committee; andCommittee 6 – Editorial Committee.

The long and great experience of EBU Members in frequency planning was recognized by the nomi-nations to Chairmanship of many committees: Stanko Perpar (RTVSLO) as Chairman ofCommittee 4, Jan Doeven (Nozema) as Vice-Chairman of Committee 5 and Chairman of a draftinggroup, Daniel Sauvet-Goichon (GRMC/MCR-TDF) as Chairman of Sub-committee 5b (dealing withintersessional activities), Nigel Laflin (BBC) as Chairman of Sub-committee 5a (dealing with plan-ning principles and planning methods), Rainer Grosskopf (IRT) as Chairman of Sub-committee 4a(dealing with propagation issues) and Phillipe Debreux (GRMC/MCR-TDF), Roland Brugger(IRT), Roland Beutler (SWR), Etienne Deventer (VRT) and Ken Hunt (EBU), who chaired variousdrafting groups.

In view of the large number of subcommittees and drafting groups established by the Conferenceand taking into account the limited number of days to achieve the objectives of the Conference, itbecome evident that the groups would have to work in parallel. That resulted in difficulty for partici-pants to follow the progress of the work and eventually to some contradictions in the text agreed indifferent parts of the output report from the Conference. Those contradictions will have to beresolved during the intersessional period.

Overall resultsAs expected, the RRC-04 agreed on the planning parameters and criteria for terrestrial digital broad-casting in Band III and Bands IV/V for the all-planning area. What could be seen as a very technicalConference (what could be more technical than discussing minimum field strength values, protection

AbbreviationsABA African Broadcasting AreaASBU Arab States Broadcasting UnionBSS Broadcast Satellite ServiceCEPT European Conference of Postal and Telecom-

munications AdministrationsDAB Digital Audio Broadcasting (Eureka-147)DVB Digital Video BroadcastingDVB-H DVB - HandheldDVB-T DVB - TerrestrialEBA European Broadcasting AreaERP Effective Radiated PowerGE89 Geneva Frequency Plan of 1989GSO Geostationary Satellite OrbitHDTV High-Definition Television

ITU International Telecommunication UnionITU-BR ITU - Bureau des RadiocommunicationsITU-R ITU - Radiocommunication SectorMIFR Master International Frequency RegisterRN Reference NetworkRPC Reference Planning ConfigurationRRC (ITU) Regional Radiocommunication

ConferenceSFN Single-Frequency NetworkST61 Stockholm Frequency Plan of 1961T-DAB Terrestrial - DABTD (EBU) Technical DepartmentWI95 Wiesbaden Frequency Plan of 1995WRC (ITU) World Radio Conference


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ratios or planning software!), was in fact a scene where many political discussions took place (andprobably where political decisions were made!). That was also expected. In most planning confer-ences of this type, political discussions consume a great part of the time. This is not always anadvantage for EBU Members who usually have far better technical than political skills, and whocannot really participate in those political discussions, which are restricted to Administrations anyway.

DVB-T

EBU Members also had many expectations from the RRC-04. But were those expectationsachieved?

EBU Members wanted the DVB-T standard to be used for digital television broadcasting in Band IIIand Bands IV/V and, in fact, it has been agreed as the unique digital television standard for theConference. The DVB-T standard allows for a number of system variants – offering different datacapacities, providing a range of picture qualities and for different reception modes. The choice ofthose parameters has a direct impact on the number of frequency channels needed to implement amultiplex for a given coverage (both the quality and the extent of the coverage). Since the frequencyspectrum is a scarce resource and the efficiency of spectrum use should be maximized, it was veryimportant for EBU Members to maintain planning flexibility. However, in order to simplify the plan-ning process whenever possible (several thousands of different DVB-T planning configurations areavailable), three reference planning configurations (RPCs) were proposed, each representing atypical planning configuration:

one suited for fixed reception;

one for portable outdoor or mobile reception; and

one for portable indoor reception.

Four different reference networks (RNs) to be used for DVB-T allotment planning 3 have also beendefined. EBU Members (mainly from central Europe) were deeply involved in the development ofthose RPCs and RNs and it was a triumph for them that these were agreed at the Conference.These RPCs and RNs may not be well suited for other parts of the planning area, but countries stillhave the possibility to submit their specific planning configuration if they so wish.

The Conference did not agree on a common allocation for a given reception mode in specific parts ofthe bands. That was in line with the EBU position which proposed that the RRC-06 planning shouldnot be constrained by the need to plan for specific reception modes in specific parts of the band on aninternational basis. Any individual decision to do so should be made on a national basis and, in sodoing, the rights of neighbouring countries to have equitable access to spectrum must be maintained.

T-DAB

Another important highlight of RRC-04 concerned the treatment of T-DAB. The CEPT planned for T-DAB allotments in Wiesbaden in 1995 (WI95) and, due to a lack of available spectrum, it was neces-sary to plan using Band III 4. Sharing this spectrum with analogue television was a problem, but notan insurmountable one.

In the meantime many of the WI95 T-DAB allotments have been implemented in CEPT countriesand it is of extreme importance to CEPT that these planned and/or implemented T-DAB allotmentsare included somehow in the revised ST61 Plan.

3. See item “Planning methods and planning software” for an explanation on allotment planning.

4. The band 1452 - 1492 MHz was also used for planning T-DAB allotments at WI95, and also at the CEPTMaastricht planning meeting in 2002, but this is of no concern here.


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Some of the non-European Members of RRC-04 were initially against (or at least concerned about)the use, or even planning, of T-DAB in Band III – a “television” band. Nevertheless, and fortunately,after long discussions, provision has been made in the report to the second session of RRC toinclude T-DAB allotments (those already planned or implemented) in the RRC-06 planning process,if desired. Reference Networks for mobile T-DAB reception (RPC 4) and portable indoor T-DABreception (RPC 5) have been developed, the only difference between the two being the 9 dB higherERP needed for RPC 5. The RPC 5 configuration goes beyond the planning done at WI95, and isconsidered an important step forward for T-DAB planning and implementation possibilities.

Definitions

Several hotly debated issues concerned “definitions”, the most controversial of which are discussedbelow.

“Equitable access”

Concerning equitable access to the spectrum (always a major subject of discussion in a frequencyplanning conference), the Conference only agreed on very general principles. How those principlesshould be implemented is left to the studies to be performed during the intersessional period and tobe proposed to the RRC-06.

“Low-power” stations

Taking into account the number of countries in the planning area, no less than 100,000 assignmentsare expected to be submitted for the preparation of the new digital Plan. In order to simplify as far aspossible the planning process, it was foreseen not to take into account low-power stations. Thoselow-power stations coordinated with the affected neighbouring countries can be included in the Planat the end of the planning process.

The crucial point here was the definition of “low power” stations. Those countries having many low-power stations 5 wanted “low-power” stations to include stations with a power of less than 30 W inBand III and less than 100 W in Bands IV/V in the planning process, in order to treat as manystations as possible. For other countries, this approach would impose too many restrictions on theirhigh-power stations and they felt that “low-power” stations should include only those stations with apower of less than 100 W in Band III and less than 500 W in Bands IV/V.

After long hours of discussion, an agreement was reached and low-power stations are now definedas those with a power of less than 50 W in Band III and of 250 W in Bands IV/V. If the countriesconcerned agree, either bi- or multi-laterally, to use powers of less than 250 W and more than 100 Win Bands IV/V, those stations will be included in the Plan after the planning process. This powerrestriction applies only to digital requirements; there is no power restriction with regard to analogueassignments which may need to be considered.

“Existing” and “planned” assignments

In relation to the protection of analogue services during the transition period 6, another importantissue was the definition of “existing and planned broadcasting assignments”. These assignmentsare defined as analogue and digital assignments included in ST61 and/or GE89, or in the MasterInternational Frequency Register (MIFR). It should be noted that many duplications, quasi-duplica-

5. In the digital world, less powerful stations are expected than are required in the analogue world.

6. See item “The transition period” for further explanation on the protection of analogue services.


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tions and mistakes have been detected in many of those assignments. Countries wishing to protectthem during the transition period will have to correct them to make sure that the real characteristicsare taken into account by the new Agreement.

The mask concept

The ST61 Agreement was a great success and has been valuable for more than 40 years. For EBUMembers, the RRC-06 should agree a new digital Plan that is at least as flexible as was ST61, inorder to allow for future evolution of digital technology; for example, to incorporate DVB-H or HDTVservices. To maximize such flexibility, the Conference agreed to the following planning mechanisms:

the “mask concept” introduced by the CEPT;

allotment planning 7;

regulatory procedures for modification of the Plan.

The idea of the mask concept is to use the DVB-T and T-DAB standards to define the interferencethat may be caused by a digital requirement and the protection that may be required by it. Differentdigital transmission systems can then be used – provided (i) that such use does not cause moreinterference than would be caused by the broadcasting system variant used in the planning, and (ii)they do not demand greater protection than was needed by the broadcasting system variant used inthe planning.

The specific methods of treating this situation will be defined in regulatory procedures associatedwith the Plan to be agreed at the RRC-06.

Conversion

EBU Members also had great expectations concerning the treatment of digital requirements“derived” from existing and planned analogue assignments – the so-called “digital conversions”.

Two possible methods for the conversion of analogue assignments into digital requirements wereidentified:

One method consists of conversion of analogue assignments into digital assignments, whileretaining the original multi-frequency-network (MFN) configuration; in this context a conversionis a digital assignment that replaces one analogue assignment on the same frequency channeland without creating any more interference to the neighbouring co-channel assignments.

The other method consists of conversion of analogue assignments into digital allotments, whileextending the coverage area to the maximum possible (or wanted) extent, taking into accountthe re-use distance of the co-channel frequency; this is the so-called “channel potentialmethod”.

One of the main advantages of “digital conversion” is that it facilitates the re-use of existing analoguetransmitting sites while facilitating compatibility with existing analogue assignments during the transi-tion period. However, in the outcome of the RRC-04, it seems that those types of digital requirementwill be subject to the same planning process as completely new digital requirements (and thereforebroadcasters would run the risk of losing the allocated channel frequency altogether!). This seemsto contradict the main intent/advantage of the method. Further work will be needed in the interses-sional period to clarify this point. There may also be an undesirable side-effect in that there could beadvantages in retaining existing analogue assignments for as long as possible.

7. See item “Planning methods and planning software” for further explanation on “allotment planning”.


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Propagation issuesThe ITU-R has recently developed a new Recommendation (ITU-R Rec. P.1546-1) for field strengthprediction, which is applicable for broadcasting, land-mobile, etc. services in the frequency range 30to 3,000 MHz. The propagation prediction method to be used for the RRC planning work is basedon this Recommendation, and the details are spelled out in chapter 2 of the Report to the secondSession of the conference. Agreement on these “details” often required lengthy consideration anddebate, and required some “interpretations” of (or even divergences from) Rec. P. 1546-1.

Propagation prediction curves for each relevant propagation zone type were derived and agreed forplanning use during the intersessional period and the second Session of the conference. In order todo this, it was necessary to agree the relevant propagation zone type and refractivity gradients forthe applicable time percentages.

With respect to the agreed propagation prediction method, some of the differences fromRec. P. 1546-1 involve the treatment of negative effective transmitting / base antenna heights and,in particular, the treatment of mixed-path propagation (i.e. those paths with combinations of land andsea).

Other Services issuesMost countries in the planning area use Band III and Bands IV/V for broadcasting; however, thebroadcasting service does not have exclusive access to these bands. Therefore sharing situationswith other primary services can arise as follows:

Band IIIfixed service;mobile service;aeronautical radionavigation service.

Bands IV/Vfixed service;mobile service;radionavigation service (including aeronautical radionavigation service);radio astronomy (in Europe, allocated on a secondary basis);broadcasting-satellite service;mobile-satellite, except aeronautical mobile-satellite service.

Interference and protection criteria for some of the above situations were developed during the firstSession. However it was not possible in the limited amount of time to define all required criteria. Forexample, work is still needed to develop (or update) criteria for:

Protection of digital broadcasting services against analogue broadcasting services (e.g. DVB-Tvs. DVB-T, DVB-T vs. analogue terrestrial television, and T-DAB vs. analogue terrestrial televi-sion) (Resolution COM 4/5);Protection of analogue terrestrial television services against DVB-T (Resolution COM 4/5);Protection of DVB-T against terrestrial services other than broadcasting (Resolution COM 4/2);Protection of aeronautical radionavigation services against DVB-T (Resolution COM 4/3);Protection of land mobile radio services against T-DAB (Resolution COM 4/6);Protection of DVB-T against broadcasting satellite service (BSS) networks(Resolution COM 4/6).

It should be noted that, with respect to the last point (BSS networks), the use of part of Band V (620 -790 MHz) by GSO and non-GSO BSS networks has been suspended by Resolution 545 (WRC-03)pending a decision by WRC-07 (which will take place after the conclusion of the second Session of


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the RRC, and the establishment of a Plan). In any case it is important to protect existing andplanned terrestrial broadcasting systems against potential interference from BSS systems.

Another unresolved point was that interference may also occur not only within the bands but alsobetween stations in adjacent bands. The RRC (and also during the intersessional period) will needto identify criteria for determining compatibility criteria for all such cases.

The transition periodAnother item of great concern for some EBU Members was the protection of the existing andplanned analogue services during the transition period. During the transition period, the broad-casting digital services must coexist with, and not cause interference to, existing broadcastinganalogue services. Even if the objective of the RRC-06 is to develop a new Plan for digital broad-casting, it was agreed that during the transition period, existing and planned analogue services willcontinue to be used and protected by the new digital plan if a country so wishes.

However, one remaining concern is the end date of the transition period. As expected, the RRC-04did not agree on a common date for the analogue switch-off. Due to the enormous differences(cultural, economic, social, etc.) between the countries belonging to the planning area, it wasextremely difficult to agree on a common date. It will be up to each country to decide on the datewhen its analogue transmissions will cease. Two options were identified:1) as early as possible and no later than 2015;2) no earlier than 2028 and no later than 2038.

Those EBU Members having plans for an early end of the transition period and having neighbouringcountries planning for a very late end (as in option 2) may suffer from constraints in their digital serv-ices in order to protect neighbouring analogue services. Coordination agreements between neigh-bouring countries will be necessary if these constraints are to be relaxed and to ensure the successof digital broadcasting.

The planning methods and softwareNaturally the RRC had to develop and agree upon the planning methods that would be used duringthe intersessional period and during the second Session itself. In addition, the appropriate softwarethat will be needed to enable an efficient use of computers to aid in the planning work had to beconsidered.

Given the large numbers of requirements expected (perhaps more than 20,000 in Band III and morethan 100,000 in Bands IV/V), it is obvious that computers will be essential to:

“manipulate” the vast quantity of data;calculate the potential interference between requirements themselves and between require-ments and other primary services;“synthesize” (i.e. generate) a satisfactory plan.

Planning methodsGeneral

The planning methods prescribed in the Report to the second Session were designed to allowdifferent planning approaches to be adopted for different geographical areas. In addition, differentplanning methods may be used for different portions of the bands being considered.

T-DAB planning should be based on allotment planning, whereas DVB-T planning should be basedon either allotment or assignment planning or a combination of both. In allotment planning, in


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contrast with assignment planning, nothing is known of the actual location of the transmitter site orthe specific transmission characteristics to be used.

Allotment planning is based (as far as possible) on Single Frequency Networks (SFNs). However itis also possible to quote the characteristics of a set of assignments which, together, are intended tocover a quoted allotment area. In any case, more than one SFN will be needed – for DVB-T at least– to cover all but the smallest national territories and thus multiple frequencies will be needed so thatdifferent SFNs do not mutually interfere.

Assignment planning is based on a specific frequency channel assigned to an individual transmittersite location (with defined transmission characteristics). Individual assignments can be linkedtogether to form an SFN.

Planning is to be based on the protection of the service area for assignments and allotments; also itwill be necessary to protect the assignments of other primary services during the establishment ofthe Plan. Service areas of assignments and allotments will be defined by means of boundary “testpoints”, which are simply geographical coordinates.

Compatibility analyses

In order to ensure the required protection, compatibility analyses will be carried out during the plan-ning process. The relevant calculations will determine which requirements may or may not shareany given channel and which may or may not use any given channel:

with respect to the requirements themselves, it is only necessary to consider the requirementspair-wise in order to establish a complete set of incompatibilities;

with respect to the identification of channels which might be available for use by a given require-ment, it is necessary to take into account any channel availability indications provided by theconcerned Administration and to calculate any potential interference from and to all existing orplanned broadcasting stations and all other primary service stations, as appropriate.

The analyses are more complex in Band III than in the Bands IV/V because of the existing overlap-ping channel situation and because the digital requirements in any given country will use the samechannel rasters as those currently in use in that country.

Plan synthesis

The synthesis of a frequency plan is the process of determining a suitable frequency for eachrequirement so that no harmful interference arises, either to existing or planned stations or to therequirements themselves. Thus the results of the compatibility analysis must be taken into accountas regards:

the channels which are available to each requirement;

the incompatibilities between requirements.

Specific synthesis methods (“algorithms”) to be used include sequential assignment procedures inwhich frequencies are assigned to requirements, one by one. A set of different algorithms will beused in order to find a good solution (e.g. the most requirements satisfied, that is, will be assigned afrequency).

It will be necessary to synthesize plans for Band III and Bands IV/V separately, and using differentalgorithms, due to the significantly different nature of the agreed planning “situations” for thesebands. In particular:

Band III requires the “blending” of perhaps 20,000 T-DAB and DVB-T requirements, takingaccount of the different bandwidths (1.75 MHz, 7 MHz, and 8 MHz), channel rasters andspacing (for DVB-T);


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Bands IV/V exploit a common 8 MHz bandwidth and channel spacing for everything (only DVB-T and no T-DAB), but may entail more than 100,000 requirements.

It is not expected that all requirements will be satisfied during a single analysis and synthesis“attempt” and a series of such attempts will be needed, with ongoing coordination, compromise, andrequirement “adjustments” by Administrations between attempts, each time taking account of new“insight” and leading to a more complete and compatible solution.

Analysis of the final plan

Once an agreed Plan has been synthesized, it will then be necessary to calculate the state of “non-interference” of that Plan (a “reference situation” so to speak). This entails the calculation of thewanted field strength as well as the nuisance field strength at each boundary “test point”, nowknowing the assigned frequencies in the Plan. The agreed methods of calculation are specified inthe Report to the second Session.

Software

The calculations described in the previous section “Planning Methods” are very complex, involvinglarge amounts of data, and can be done efficiently (if at all) only with the help of computers. Thenecessary calculation software (compatibility analysis and plan synthesis) can only be developednow that the results of the first Session have been agreed and are known. It is important to havesuitable software available (as soon as possible) so that the intersessional planning work can begin(also as soon as possible).

The ITU has requested the EBU (and the EBU has agreed) to develop the calculation software, asspecified in the Report to the second Session, and it is expected that this software will be finishedand provided to the ITU by the beginning of September 2004. The data-entry and data-validationsoftware will be developed by the ITU. Subsequently, it will be necessary to develop software todisplay the results of the analysis and synthesis processes.

Spectrum requirements

As mentioned above, digital technology offers additional services (more programmes, data and text,mobile reception, etc.) and a more efficient use of the spectrum. As a result of that increased effi-ciency, many people are expecting that the new digital Plan will require less spectrum than theanalogue one and that some frequency channels will be released for new services, the so-calleddigital dividend. However, as per the discussions during the Conference, it is expected that mostcountries will take profit of the digital enhancement and will request for many of those additionalservices. Studies performed before the RRC-04 indicated that in order to fulfil all those new require-ments, almost all the spectrum available in Band III and Bands IV/V 8 will be needed.

Many expectations are also put on the calculation software. Many people think that the software willbe able to solve all those problems. Certainly, the calculation software will try to find the bestcompromise solution between input requirements and spectrum needs but, if the input requirementsare not realistic, the software will not be able to find a solution. Administrations will have to be real-istic in their digital requirements and in their Other Services protection requirements.

In any case, the RRC-04 did not address the issue of spectrum requirements needed to achieve thedigital requirements and did not put any limit on the number of requirements to be submitted to thesecond Session. The planning exercises to be performed during the intersessional period willalready show certain limitations and, in any case, until the RRC-06 agrees the new digital plan, wewill not know whether all the requirements can be met and whether there is any digital dividend!

8. Concerning spectrum availability, see the paragraph dealing with Other Services.


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The intersessional periodAs can be expected, the enormous amount of work done in the lead-in to the first Session (RRC-04)was only a foretaste of the work that will be needed during the intersessional period leading up to thesecond Session (RRC-06).

To meet the resulting demands (explicit and implicit) of the results of the first Session (in addition totaking on the task of developing the planning software needed by the ITU), the EBU has alreadyestablished two Project Groups (B/BCP, B/EPS) to tackle the tasks at hand, and these groups havealready begun work. This work will include:

Evaluating and proposing the planning software, primarily for EBU Members;Conducting planning exercises (e.g. for EBU and ASBU Members); updating existing technicalplanning criteria and, if necessary, developing new criteria for use during the intersessionalperiod and at RRC-06;etc.

It can be expected that the CEPT will also pursue the intersessional planning work very actively. Inaddition, it can be expected that much CEPT work will be necessary to enable and carry out bi- andmulti-lateral coordination between its Member Administrations, and to establish correct data forexisting / planned broadcasting and relevant non-broadcasting services. The CEPT has alreadycreated a group called Working Group RRC-06 to work during the intersessional period and toprepare the second Session of the RRC. It seems probable that similar activities will also take placein other parts of the planning area.

EBU/CEPT planning exercises

Time schedule for the intersessional activities

-06

3 months

9 months 3.5 months 2 months

28/05/04 28/02/05 15/07/05 31/10/05 28/02/06 05/0631/08/04

RRC

Submission of initial input data to ITU -BR

Analysis.

Preparation of

input data Analysis

Preparation of input data

EBU TD

submits planning

software to ITU

Publication of

results of the

1st planning exercise

Publication

of results

of Draft Plan

NOTE: Meetings of the RPG.

Meetings of the IPG.

Submission of input data to

ITU-BR. Reference situation date

for existing stationsNew Plan

Figure 2Time schedule for the main activities to be performed during the intersessional period (the activities shown in green are to be performed by the Administrations)


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The ITU itself is also in the process of establishing various “working groups” to deal with the multi-tude of tasks in preparation for RRC-06. In particular:

An “Intersessional Planning Group” (IPG) has been set up to establish draft plans during theintersessional period while taking account of bi- and multi-lateral negotiations carried out byAdministrations (Resolution COM 5/1),A “Planning eXercise Team” (PXT) has been set up to carry out planning exercises (ResolutionCOM 5/1),A “Regulatory / Procedural Group” (RPG) has been set up to deal with, among other things, theregulatory / procedural matters relating to the relevant parts of the RRC-06 agenda (ResolutionPLEN 1).

In addition, of course, ITU-R Study Group 6 (and others) will be confirming / developing the technicaland sharing criteria to facilitate the work of the second Session and the prior planning exercises asrequested by the Report to the second Session.

Fig. 2 shows the time schedule for the main activities to be performed during the intersessionalperiod. Fig. 3 shows the interrelations between the main players during the intersessional period,and their main activities.

ConclusionsAlthough discussions and debate during the three weeks of the first Session (RRC-04) were longand sometimes tedious or heated, agreement on the technical basis to be used for developing a new

ITU

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IPGPXTITU

-BRRPG

R

BROADCASTERS ADMINISTRATIONS

ECPs

Planning software

Proposals

Inputdata

Proposals

Regulatory matters

Draft Plan

TD B/BCP CEPT EC

RRC-06

Planning exercises matters

PLAN &

AGREEMENT

Figure 3Inter-relations between the main players during the intersessional period, and their main activities


SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT

digital broadcasting Plan was successfully reached. This information is stored in the Report to thesecond Session which will be used between now and the end of the second Session to establish theFinal Plan. The EBU and its Members can fairly claim considerable credit for this achievementbecause of its thorough preparatory work on the relevant technical matters and its contributions,both direct and indirect, to the work of Task Group 6/8 and that of RRC-04.

The final digital Plan will be agreed at the second Session of the RRC to be held in Geneva from the15 May to the 16 June 2006. That includes two short conferences to be held immediately after thesecond Session to revise the relevant parts of ST61 and GE89 Agreements.

See you there in 2006!

Terry O’Leary received a doctorate in Physics at the University of California. In1975, he joined the Institut für Rundfunktechnik (IRT Munich) where he conductedresearch on a range of topics including propagation, antennas, and terrestrial net-work and satellite planning.

In 1979, Dr O’Leary joined the EBU Technical Department where he becameinvolved in many projects within the framework of EBU Working Party R. From 1984to 1990, the IFRB benefitted from his specialist knowledge of HF and television net-work planning. He returned to the EBU in 1990 and was involved in T-DAB planning,WARC’77 BSS replanning and other projects.

Terry O’Leary co-ordinates joint technical activities undertaken by EBU Members and represents the EBU ina number of international committees. He participated in the RRC-04 – the first Session of the RegionalRadiocommunications Conference to review the ST61 and GE89 Plans, which agreed the planning param-eters and criteria – and is currently participating in the intersessional activities to prepare the second Ses-sion, the RRC-06, which will agree on the New Plan.

In 1991, Elena Puigrefagut Coarasa completed a 6-year degree course in Telecom-munications Engineering at ETSETB - Escola Técnica Superior d'Engigners de Tele-comunicació de Barcelona. Then, in September 1992, she obtained an MSc in"Image processing" from ENST - Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunica-tions de Paris. From December 1992 to February 2000, she worked for Eutelsat asan Operations Department Engineer. During this period, she gained six year's expe-rience as a frequency planner and one year's experience as a network engineer.

In March 2000, Mrs Puigrefagut joined EBU headquarters, Geneva, as an Engineerin the Technical Department, to undertake studies relating to frequency planning andspectrum management. She also co-ordinates joint technical activities undertakenby EBU Members and represents the EBU in a number of international committees.She participated in the RRC-04 – the first Session of the Regional Radiocommunications Conference toreview the ST61 and GE89 Plans, which agreed the planning parameters and criteria – and is currently par-ticipating in the intersessional activities to prepare the second Session, the RRC-06, which will agree on theNew Plan.


Documents

SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT RRC-04/06 · RRC for the revision of the EBA ST61 in the bands 174 - 230 MHz and 470 - 862 MHz1, to be held in two sessions. In addition, Member States from the