GSMA’s target future spectrum included in guidelines for governments attending WRC-15

The Conference Preparatory Meeting (CPM) for the World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15) concluded  following two weeks of intense discussions in Geneva. The meeting culminated in the agreement of the ‘Final Report’ which includes options to revise global radio allocations to support the mobile industry’s five new target bands. It is vital that new mobile spectrum is agreed at WRC-15 to support rapidly rising mobile data demand. However, it was evident from the meeting that more work will be needed to persuade governments to support the mobile industry’s bands at WRC-15 in November.

The ‘Final report’ outlines options for supporting or opposing the various WRC-15 Agenda Items under consideration, including supporting mobile broadband (i.e. IMT) identifications in the mobile industry’s five target bands (these include four global bands: sub-700 MHz, L-band, 2.7-2.9 GHz and C-band, as well as the 700 MHz band in Europe, the Middle East and Africa). It also included sharing studies which show that mobile broadband can operate in the GSMA’s target bands under reasonable conditions without causing harmful interference to existing services.

The event highlighted that the 700 MHz band in Europe, the Middle East and Africa is progressing well and is likely to be confirmed at WRC-15. However, more work will be needed to persuade ITU Member States to support some of the mobile industry’s target bands in key regions. The GSMA held six regional seminars, which were well attended (presentations downloadable here), as well as bilateral meetings with over 50 delegations in order to highlight the growing demand for spectrum for mobile services.