WRC 97 to Shape Development of Tomorrow’s Radiocommunications Environment

Geneva, 23 October 1997 — From October 27 until November 21, the Geneva International Conference Centre will once again host the International Telecommunication Union’s World Radiocommunication Conference, an event which will play a key role in determining what kinds of radio-based communications systems will be available at the start of the next millennium.

The four-week long conference, which is held every two years, is the forum which sets the international rules for the use of radiocommunication frequencies by all types of radiocommunication services, from television and radio broadcasting to mobile telephony, maritime and aeronautical navigation and safety systems, and satellite orbital slots.

Communications systems based on radiocommunications are today the fastest-growing sector of the telecommunications industry, and have already overtaken fixed line networks in terms of number of new subscribers. During the last five years, worldwide growth rates for mobile telephony have hovered at an astonishing 50 per cent per annum, and at present some countries are actually doubling their mobile subscriber base every year. Other radio-based services such as paging, subscriber radio and television delivered by satellite, global positioning systems and so on are also enjoying rapid growth in many of the world’s markets. Add to this increasingly sophisticated systems for navigation, air and maritime safety, new laptop computer-based mobile data systems, proposed services such as Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite (GMPCS), and dozens more new applications still in the pipeline, and it quickly becomes apparent why the shortage of radio-frequency spectrum has become such a pressing issue.

Unfortunately, the radio-frequency spectrum is a finite resource. The equitable distribution of this resource, as well as the development of new ways of increasing the ‘spectrum efficiency’ of radiocommunications services – that is, the ability to deliver the same service using less spectrum or to share spectrum with other services without causing interference – is one of the most important tasks of World Radiocommunication Conferences.

As usual, this year’s conference has many urgent and important items on its agenda, including: improved frequency allocations for satellite services, including new GMPCS services; a revision of the way the high-frequency bands are used for broadcasting; new operational provisions for the aeronautical mobile service; the requirements for the full-scale implementation on 1 February 1999 of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System; a review of the spectrum used for direct-to-home television broadcasting; updates of plans for the broadcasting satellite service; and frequency allocations for space science services, many of which are not easily able to share with other services.

With ever-increasing demand for frequency allocations for new or expanded services, the atmosphere at World Radiocommunication Conferences in recent years has become highly charged, with delegations often engaging in intense lobbying over the issues contained in the meeting’s hundreds of pages of reports and proposals. For the four weeks until the close of the conference on Friday 21 November, the meeting rooms of the CICG will become a second home for the 1,800 or so delegates representing both government and private interests, who will be grouped into national delegations led by senior government officials. Because the conclusions of World Radiocommunication Conferences are laid down in Final Acts, which become binding intergovernmental treaties, the decisions taken during the month ahead will have an enormous impact on the future development of radiocommunication-based services.

The agenda for each WRC is prepared well in advance. The general scope of the programme is determined four years before the conference itself, then fine-tuned by the WRC that precedes it and adopted by the ITU Council. The ITU Radiocommunication Study Groups and other components of the Radiocommunication Sector are then charged with doing the groundwork to prepare each issue for consideration by the conference. A Conference Preparatory Meeting collects submissions from these groups and prepares a lengthy report which outlines in detail the matters under consideration. If the climate of this conference’s CPM proves an accurate barometer, WRC-97 will turn out to be a tough battle between competing interests and approaches. "Despite the fact that no decisions were being debated, many of the deliberations within the CPM were as detailed and as hard-fought as those which take place within a conference proper," said the meeting’s Chairman, Mr Robert Taylor of the United States.

More information on the conference, including backgrounders, corporate position papers, a full list of agenda items, an overview by the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau and related press releases can be found on the WRC 97 Web site.