Fight Brewing at WRC Over Satellite Rule Overhaul
The U.S. and U.K. could be headed for a conflict over the need for the World Radiocommunications Conference (WRC) to approve a comprehensive overhaul of Articles 9 and 11 of world Radio Regulations. The FCC Advisory Committee for the WRC approved a resolution Wed. opposing those efforts, saying they could undermine the world satellite industry.
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The WRC has firm dates of Oct. 8-Nov. 2, 2007, in Geneva. As the U.S. and other nations determine their positions, possible conflicts are starting to emerge. Sources said Wed. the 2007 WRC will look a lot like last year’s conference, with a diverse set of issues getting attention. “It won’t be like WRC 2000 where 3G was the only thing on the table,” said an industry source at the Wed. meeting in D.C. “There are going to more discrete issues.” A 2nd source agreed: “In the past you've had themes…. I've seen no theme suggesting itself so far.”
The call for an overhaul of Articles 9 and 11 is emerging as one of the more contentious issues, especially given the position under consideration in the U.K., several members of the advisory committee said. One U.S. source said the U.S. fears launching a major revision would make creating satellite networks difficult. “It’s an intellectual exercise as far as I can tell,” the source said. “I don’t think it’s anything the U.K. is trying to achieve for any satellite operator. They have intentions of reorganizing it so that it’s more logical.”
Draft U.S. preliminary views on the proposal say a broad overhaul would have “few benefits and many potential detriments” and should be opposed by the WRC. “The process of developing any extensive revisions to Articles 9 and 11… will leave administrations and operators with uncertainty on how to successfully apply the coordination and notification processes to implement satellite networks and may also require transition procedures,” the document said. “Such uncertainty, particularly over the span of years, could undermine the industry.”
Another contentious issue is a review of satellites vs terrestrial uses in the 2.5 GHz-2.69 GHz bands. In the U.S., this is prime real estate for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed uses and growing focus. But in some parts of the world, particularly the Mid East, the bands are commonly used by satellites. An industry source said a key question is what constitutes adequate protection criteria: “The concern is that if satellite is allocated in that band, if there are satellite systems anywhere in the world, they might interfere with the earth systems.”
Nancy Victory, former NTIA dir. and chmn, of the advisory committee, urged the U.S. delegation to complete work on U.S. positions as rapidly as possible -- though the WRC is almost 3 years away. “There are going to be a number of challenging issues,” she told us. “We'll know next year if there are issues we can’t solve on a preliminary basis, but at this point everybody is working through, working very hard on all the issues.”
Victory said the committee on the call for overhaul of Articles 9 and 11 is focused on developing a unified U.S. industry position. “While we're certainly always cognizant of what’s going on in the U.K. and what’s going on in other countries, and need to keep that into account as well, our first job is to try to get industry all on the same page, which is challenging enough,” she said.