1. WRC-07 Decision on C-band
Kristen Kloster
Director, International Programmes
Global VSAT Forum

2. The ITU Radio Régulations
One of their main purposes - Interference-free operation of RadioComms
Lengthy & complex procedure
Established/amended by States during WRCs (every 3-4 years);
Opportunity to resolve interference before operation;
Prevents loss of investment, customers & revenue from unusable capacity due to interference.

3. WRC Agenda Item 1.4
“to consider frequency-related matters for the future development of IMT‑2000 and systems beyond IMT‑2000 taking into account the results of ITU‑R studies in accordance with Resolution 228 (Rev.WRC‑03)”

4. IMT Candidate Frequency Bands
ITU-R WP 8F
IMT Candidate Frequency Bands
410 – 430 MHz
450 – 470 MHz
470 – 806/862 MHz
1 518 – MHz
1 668 – MHz
2 300 – MHz
2 700 – MHz
3 400 – MHz
4 400 – MHz

5. C-band Downlinks 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4.0 4.1 4.2 Std. C Ext. C
Band commonly used by FSS satellites
Additional band
(FSS, feederlinks
for MSS, …)

6. WRC-07 Agenda Item 1.4
Key Issue at WRC-07
Many Issues only Resolved on Penultimate Day of Conference

7. Several compatibility issues were identified:
BWA vs FSS
The sharing situation was extensively studied, in particular in response to agenda item 1.4 of WRC-07 (“IMT”).
Several compatibility issues were identified:
Blockage of reception in same frequency band (“in-band”);
Blockage of adjacent frequencies (“out-of-band”);
Overload of satellite receiver (“saturation”).
Main issue = “in-band”

8. The Findings
Numerous practical tests have shown that FSS and WiMAX cannot coexist in the same or adjacent bands
SUIRG
CEPT
Hong Kong
Tanzania
Bolivia
Australia
Fiji
Argentina
etc

9. The Findings
BWA or IMT in a part or all of the FSS C-band downlink will be incompatible with general FSS reception in any part of C-band in the same geographical area
BWA or IMT in a part of C-band may be compatible with FSS reception by a small number of earth stations if:
Appropriate exclusion zones around each of the earth stations are established
User terminals are designed not to emit any signals when not in contact with a base station
Introduction of BWA or IMT by one country can block FSS reception in another country

10. Solutions identified (1/2)
Separation distances between BWA and FSS receiving earth stations, using criteria defined by ITU.
Examples of separation distances:
“in-band”: several tens of km (up to > 100 km);
“out-of-band”: few kilometers (up to 2 km);
“saturation”: several hundreds of meters (up to > 1 km).

11. Solutions identified (2/2)
Since individual licenses are not usually required for FSS earth stations such as TVRO terminals, which have divers retail outlets, there is no central record of their locations. Therefore it is not feasible for BWA to share with them in the same geographical area since no minimum separation can be guaranteed.
Separation distances could be reduced by implementing appropriate mitigation techniques (where applicable), but most of these would not reduce the distances to zero and the others have yet to be shown to be practicable

12. Why Is SatCom Important in C-band?

13. C-Band Earth Stations in Africa (3400-4200 MHz) (Incomplete Count from Intelsat)

14. FSS Earth stations in Europe
The sites shown are those recorded by Intelsat and SES/New Skies in the band MHz – (1081 terminals, 694 sites) . Additionally many TVRO earth stations exist but are unrecorded and thus unable to be shown here. Furthermore the map does not show earth stations served in this band by other satellite operators. 14

15. Importance of C-Band to the FSS
Only band where FSS can be provided with high reliability in areas with high intensity rainfall
Large area coverage – ideal for developing countries
Standard C-Band is fully utilised – developing countries are dependent on extended C-Band
Ku- and Ka-band satellite systems suffer from rain fade problems and are more suited for smaller coverages

16. The WRC Outcome No global identification for IMT
C-Band preserved for satellite use
Individual countries can take a different position to the international community and sign up to ‘country footnotes’ that offer…
In Region 1: – MHz is allocated to mobile services and identified for IMT for some countries
In Region 2: – MHz is allocated to mobile services
In Region 3: – MHz is allocated to mobile services and identified for IMT for some countries, as is – MHz

17. The WRC Outcome 3400 – 3600 MHz ADD MOB/IMT ADD 5.AAA
Mobile allocation in 3400 – 3600 MHz is effective
17 November 2010
IMT is subject to RR 9.17; RR 9.18; + pfd limits

18. The Ongoing Threat to Satellite Operations
At WRC-07 only 200 MHz allocated to IMT in C-Band
ITU-R WP 5A studying compatibility between BWA & FSS in C-Band

19. How C-band Will be ‘Protected’
Any deployment of IMT services in the C band must fulfil strict criteria laid out in the country footnote 5.AAA:
Careful limits are placed on the power flux density allowed at the border between countries that choose to allow the deployment of IMT services and countries that follow the norm
Existing rules governing sharing between services are reaffirmed to make sure they are applied when necessary - to help protect both existing and future satellite services
There are currently no future agenda items to revisit this issue

20. Thank you