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450 - 470MHz Band Re-planning - Status Report November 1999 |
Re-planning the 450-470MHz band to comply with CEPT Recommendation T/R 25-08 has an RA Management Board mandate with a Project Board chaired by Hazel committed to making decisions and making resources available to the project. 2 sub-groups are being created -one to consider the government/specrtum management perspective and one to consider the industry perspective. Implementation of the realignment will commence after completion of the rollout of PSRCP - current timescales indicate 1/1/2005 for commencement.
The first thing we need to do is arrive at an agreed overall bandplan. This will indicate the location of block allocations and also the likely size of blocks - as well as providing the opportunity for new technology to be introduced in the band - TETRA (as per ERC/DEC/(96)04) plus analogue FM plus possible other digital technology. Compatibility work to assess how various technologies could share the band is in progess at RTCG. An implementation plan will be designed once the bandplan is stable.
An information flyer is about to be sent out to all licensees in the band informing them of existence of the project, its timescales and implications. This will be followed by formal notice of the commencement of implementation which we're aiming to send out by end of 1999, thus giving at least 5 years notice. Spectrum management representatives of the key user types in the band are being consulted so we can verify our understanding of both the constraints on positioning of blocks and also their assessment of future desires for technology based on operational criteria. For planning the implementation phase, which will clearly involve users, suppliers, local office staff plus other resources, Bob Malyon (head of the regional offices) with his regional office staff will be designing vehicles for consultation to work towards a workable implementation plan.
There will be a future-looking questionnaire in the new year which will seek to ascertain future desires of the band's users for their communications requirements and will hope to identify the best way of meeting these - in the band, out of the band, using new technology or existing equipment. We will be trying to design a plan based on the kinds of systems likely to exist in the band in 5-10 years time.
We will be using all avenues - an information flyer in preparation, formal notice will be sent directly to customers, we will have a web site (part of RA's web site), we are informing MSC and SMAG, we could produce article for the trade press, - other avenues?
We are working on the basis that we will have the bandplan agreed by the end of 2000, that detailed planning for the implementation will take place once this is achieved and that implementation will commence at the start of 2005. Until the detailed implementation planning phase begins proper, it is very difficult to give an assessment of how long implementation will take to complete, but a period of several years is envisaged.
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