Outlook Unclear Whether World Will Join U.S. Proposed Approach on Mobile Broadband, WRC Envoy Says

The U.S. is making progress on key issues at the World Radiocommunication Conference, almost two weeks into the monthlong conference in Geneva, said Decker Anstrom, U.S. ambassador to the WRC, on a call with reporters Thursday. But Anstrom conceded there's no agreement yet on a proposal that some TV spectrum outside the U.S. be set aside for mobile broadband on a nation-by-nation basis.

The proposed agenda item looks at the future of spectrum for wireless broadband in the UHF band, plus the L and C bands, and has been controversial, with incumbent broadcasters and satellite operators raising objections. “We have ongoing, intensive discussions that are continuing on many of the proposed bands,” Anstrom said. “These three bands continue to be the focus of most efforts at this conference to secure additional spectrum for mobile broadband services.” The most progress has been made on the satellite L-band (1427-1508 MHz), which isn't being looked at in the U.S. for mobile broadband, Anstrom said.

The UHF (470-698 MHz) proposal is the toughest of the three, Anstrom said. “There certainly is interest in the Americas as well as the Pacific region” and some countries in Europe and Africa also are interested in flexibility, he said. “The most significant development in the short term, we know one thing is going to happen,” he said: “Canada, the United States and Mexico will move forward in the UHF band.”

The TV incentive auction is being watched closely, Anstrom said. “If the auction goes well in the U.S., and I have no reason to believe it won’t, that will attract a lot of attention around the world,” he said. “My own view on this is this is a matter of when, not if. The UHF spectrum is very desirable and well-fitted for mobile broadband.” Several countries indicated they want to complete their own 700 MHz auctions before looking at the UHF band, he said.

The WRC already agreed on one of the top U.S. priorities, global harmonization of spectrum for long-range global flight tracking (GFT), Anstrom said. Canada and a few other nations had shown leadership in helping get an agreement on the item, he said. GFT allows existing communications between commercial aircraft and the ground to be picked up by satellites in remote areas (see 1510140040). The agenda item was prompted by the 2014 loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. The U.S. delegation said in a news release Wednesday WRC’s action “will enable better tracking and location of aircraft that otherwise could disappear from terrestrial tracking systems.”

Anstrom also said an agreement appears near on an initiative to providing globally harmonized spectrum for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) using existing satellite spectrum -- the Ka and Ku bands. In a late development Thursday, 50 countries in the Americas, Europe and Africa, plus in a few other regions, agreed to a combined document creating a framework for command and control of UAS systems using satellite links, Anstrom said. “We believe this positions the conference to move forward.” The agreement combines proposals from the three regions into a single document, he said.

Additional countries have been following the UAS issue closely but wanted to see a combined proposal and wanted to be sure it would have the support of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Anstrom said. The U.S. will now work to build support among nations that have not agreed, he said. “We are very optimistic.” The only other alternative before the WRC is taking “no action” on drones, he said. “That would be extraordinary.”

Anstrom conceded that some countries including Brazil, Holland, Russia and the U.K. remain in the no-action camp on the UAS spectrum. That could change now that there's a combined proposal with ICAO signoff, he said. “A number of countries were not prepared to be committed to action on this until they saw what it was that was going to gel together or not gel together in terms of one proposal,” Anstrom said.

Several NASA-proposed agenda items also were concluded, including one that would relax regulatory provisions governing space operations at the International Space Station, Anstrom said.