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EU spectrum programme Back in September 2010, the European Commission¹ issued a draft proposal for a future European-wide Radio Spectrum Policy Programme (RSPP). Te process in Europe is such that the Commission issues a draft; the Parliament² debates and proposes changes; so does the Council³, and the three institutions then try to merge those positions together into an agreed policy. National parliaments later implement the decisions in national law. In reviewing the new policy, it is worth noting


the following opening statements: nspectrum is a key public resource for essential sectors;


nit supports public services, such as security and safety services, including civil protection;


nregulatory measures on spectrum therefore have economic, safety, health, public interest, cultural, scientific, social, environmental and technical implications;


na renewed economic and social approach with regard to the management, allocation and use of spectrum should be adopted;


nadditional spectrum might be needed by other sectors such as transport (for safety, information and management systems), research and development, e-health, e-inclusion and, if necessary, public protection and disaster relief (PPDR), in view of their increased use of video and data transmission for a quick and efficient service. Te actual article in the policy concerning


PPDR (Article 8: Spectrum needs for other specific Union policies), which now is being transposed into national law in the 27 EU countries, states: “Te Commission shall, in cooperation with the Member States, seek to ensure that sufficient spectrum is made available under harmonised conditions to support the development of safety services and the free circulation of related devices as well as the development of innovative interoperable solutions for public safety and protection, civil protection and disaster relief.”


Global developments Public Protection and Disaster Relief is a niche activity and it has some unique requirements in the technology it needs. For such a vital niche market, it is of the utmost importance to achieve the greatest possible spectrum harmonization across the region – not only so that radio terminal equipment can be realized at cost-effective prices but to allow for seamless inter-regional interoperability between public safety and other governmental agencies. nITURegion 2 – the Americas: on February 16, the US Congress passed a bill authorizing the Federal Communications Commission


Issue 7 2012 TE TRA TODAY ‘


Public cellular broadband networks cannot be trusted for mission-critical services. Dedicated broadband networks for government use are essential


(FCC) to reallocate the 700MHz D-Block spectrum for dedicated public safety broadband use. In conjunction with previously allocated public safety broadband block spectrum, US public safety will now have 20MHz of dedicated broadband spectrum in 2 × 10MHz contiguous blocks. Canada has announced that it is following the same spectrum approach.


nITURegion 3 – Asia-Pacific: the APT Wireless Group (AWG) has been working on its digital dividend issue and has developed reports on the situation in APT member countries as well as preferred frequency arrangements for the use of the band 698–806MHz, which is becoming available as part of the digital dividend. Many Asian countries are already actively moving to implement the results of these studies, which propose how PPDR spectrum should be allocated.


nITURegion 1 – Europe, Africa,Middle East: in 2011, the European CEPT/ECC established a project team (FM49), ‘Radio Spectrum for Public Protection and Disaster Relief ’ with a mandate to “identify and evaluate suitable bands for European-wide harmonisation of spectrum (both below and above 1GHz), by taking into account cross-border-communication issues and PPDR application requirements”. Te team’s terms of reference also enjoin it to “take note of the PPDR frequency use in other ITU Regions”.


Meeting point FM49 is where European spectrum regulators are working together with user representatives in order to define a road map and the amount of spectrum needed. FM49 plans to provide a report in 2014. Meanwhile, police officials from all EU


countries are meeting in the Law Enforcement Working Party (LEWP, a sub-group of the Justice and Home Affairs Council in the European Council) and are working with ETSI to define their future data needs. Tis work will have a direct impact on how much spectrum FM49 will determine is needed. It is essential that the user community participate in this work.


Preparing for the worst Europe’s PPDR sector in is confronted with a growing need for mobile data applications. In the future, data communication will be required in performing the tasks that are entrusted to PPDR organizations. To do this, the sector requires its own dedicated networks, so that communication is guaranteed in even the most severe disaster. A harmonized frequency band will make it





possible to work with the same technologies, achieving interoperability across the entire critical infrastructure sector. Te public cellular broadband networks are


an extension of the public Internet. Tey are designed to be a part of the Internet and behave accordingly. It doesn’t help how well you encrypt your traffic when the network is unavailable. Whether the cause is deliberate attack or just simple overload, your communication capability has gone. Consequently, public cellular broadband


networks cannot be trusted for mission-critical services. Dedicated broadband networks for government use are essential, just as dedicated government intranets are essential today. Wireless operators are building an open


wireless Internet – but organizations need dedicated spectrum to be able to build dedicated wireless intranets. Without this option, innovation will effectively be stifled and organizational effectiveness hindered.


Time for action Spectrum is a finite resource. Planning of spectrum efficiency improvements takes years. It is viewed as a source for economic growth and fiscal income to the state. How do you value social security and resilience? Spectrum is also a requirement for the wider


group of PPDR organizations to be allowed to innovate and provide an optimal service to society by having guaranteed field access to a wider range of information protected from unauthorized access all the way from the secure servers to the staff working in the field. When we combine all the facts mentioned


in this article, we can only hope that we sooner, rather than later, reach the ultimate goal of having global broadband interoperability for the professional world.


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