ACMA - Industry debrief for WRC

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) held an Industry Debrief on the outcomes of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 (WRC-12) on Monday 23 April 2012 at the National Library of Australia in Canberra.

The WRC-12 was held in Geneva, Switzerland from 23 January to 17 February 2012 with over 3 000 participants, representing 165 of the ITU’s 193 Member States, attending the four week conference and braving extreme winter conditions.

WRC-12 was chaired by Mr Tariq Al Awadhi of the United Arab Emirates, along with six vice-chairmen: Mr Decker Anstrom (United States), Mr Eric Fournier (France), Mr Albert Nalbandian (Armenia), Mr Mahiddine Ouhadj (Algeria), Mr Habeeb Al-Shankiti (Saudi Arabia) and Mr Alan Jamieson (New Zealand).

The ACMA led a delegation of 41 representatives from government and industry at WRC-12 and managed a four year preparatory process leading up to the conference where Australia developed positions relevant to all WRC-12 Agenda items.

The outcomes of WRC-12 are largely in line with Australia’s positions developed through the preparatory process with many of the outcomes due to take effect from 1 January 2013.

The Industry Debrief was attended by 70 people with representatives from the Australian Delegation providing a comprehensive overview on the outcomes of all WRC-12 Agenda items. A dominant feature of WRC-12 was the Agenda for the next conference to be held in 2015 and the strong sentiment expressed by Member States that the next WRC (WRC-15) not be delayed. WRC-15 will include numerous issues of significance, including Agenda item 1.1 which will consider new candidate frequency bands for international mobile telecommunications (IMT) and mobile broadband applications. The Industry Debrief included a discussion on the new Agenda items for WRC-15.

Presentations from the ACMA WRC-12 Industry Debrief are available below.

23 April 2012 (WRC-12 Industry debrief)
Welcome Maureen Cahill, ACMA; Head of the Australian Delegation to WRC-12
WRC-12 background Neil Meaney, ACMA
Session One—Maritime and aeronautical issues
Agenda item 1.3—Unmanned aircraft systems Bill McDonald, ASC
Agenda item 1.4—New aeronautical mobile (R) services in the bands 112–117.975, 960–1,164 and 5,000–5,030 MHz Neil Meaney, ACMA
Agenda item 1.9—Appendix 17—New digital technologies for the maritime mobile service Peter Pokorny, AMSA
Agenda item 1.10—Allocation requirements of safety systems of ships and ports Peter Pokorny, AMSA
Session Two—Radiolocation and amateur issues
Agenda item 1.14—Radiolocation service in the range 30–300 MHz Darrel Ninham, Defence
Agenda item 1.15—Oceanographic radars 3–50 MHz Paul Hettrick, Bureau of Meteorology
Agenda item 1.21—Radiolocation service 15.4–15.7 GHz Darrell Ninham, Defence
Agenda item 1.23—Amateur service secondary allocation Dale Hughes, CSIRO
Session Three—Fixed, mobile and broadcasting issues
Agenda item 1.5—Electronic news gathering Andrew King (obo Roger Bunch), Network Ten
Agenda item 1.8—Fixed services in bands between 71–238 GHz Paul Hettrick, Bureau of Meteorology
Agenda item 1.17—Sharing between mobile service and other services in the band 790–862 MHz in Regions 1 and 3 Neil Meaney, ACMA
Agenda item 1.20—High altitude platform stations Dick Butler, AsiaSpace
Agenda item 1.22—Protection of services from short-range radio devices Neil Meaney, ACMA
Session Four—Science issues
Agenda item 1.6—Update passive services in the band 275–3,000 GHz Carol Wilson, CSIRO
Agenda item 1.11—Space research service 22.55–23.15 GHz (Earth-to-space) Richard Jacobsen,
Agenda item 1.12—Protection of primary services 37–38 GHz Kevin Knights, CSIRO
Agenda item 1.16—Meteorological aids—below 20 kHz Paul Hettrick, Bureau of Meteorology
Agenda item 1.24—Meteorological-satellite service in 7,750–7,900 MHz Paul Hettrick, Bureau of Meteorology
Session Five—Satellite issues
Agenda item 1.7—Aeronautical mobile (R) services 1,525-1,559 MHz and 1,626.6-1,660.5 MHz Tim Smallhorn, Defence
Agenda item 1.13—Broadcasting-satellite service and feeder links 21.4 –22 GHz Geoff McMillen, ACMA
Agenda item 1.18—Global primary allocation to the radiodetermination satellite service in the band 2,483.5-2,500 MHz Geoff McMillen, ACMA
Agenda item 1.25—Mobile-satellite service—additional allocations 4-16 GHz Paul Burford, Defence
Agenda item 7—Satellite procedures Paul Burford, Defence
Session Six—Future work program and other issues
Agenda item 1.2—Enhancing the international spectrum regulatory framework Alex Seneta, ACMA
Agenda item 1.19—Software-defined radio and cognitive radio systems Neil Meaney, ACMA
Agenda item 1.1—Country Footnotes Alex Seneta, ACMA
Agenda item 2—Incorporation by Reference Alex Seneta, ACMA
Agenda item 4—Review of ITU-R Resolutions and Recommendations Alex Seneta, ACMA
Agenda item 8.1—Outcomes of the Report of the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau to WRC-12 Neil Meaney, ACMA
Agenda item 8.2—Agenda for the next WRC Neil Meaney, ACMA
Joint Task Group 4-5-6-7—Domestic preparatory process Maureen Cahill, ACMA
Introduction of the new ACMA SharePoint facility for international radiocommunication preparatory work (1.3 mb) Monika Pavlovic and Neil Meaney, ACMA
Closing comments Maureen Cahill, ACMA