In his closing remarks, Mr Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary-General of ITU, noted that the move from analogue to digital broadcasting, "will create new distribution networks that can carry a wide variety of digital broadband content. And the television set, which has played a key role in creating our information society, is poised to play an even more important role in the knowledge society." He added that, "digital terrestrial broadcasting will be able to offer mobile reception of video, Internet and multimedia data. The result, when combined with digital storage technologies, will be applications, services and information that is assessable and usable, anywhere at anytime."

The Regional Radiocommunication Conference is a two-step process. In Geneva, delegates adopted the technical parameters and criteria to be used for performing the planning exercises in the intersessional period before the second session of the conference, which is expected to take place in 2005 or early 2006. The decisions taken at RRC-04 will be validated during the intersessional period and the second session will either confirm or modify them.

A major challenge of the first conference was to find ways of permitting digital broadcasting to operate side-by-side with analogue broadcasting without causing interference between the two. According to Mr Valery Timofeev, Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau, the success of the conference, which was characterized by a "pragmatic and business-like approach to all of the issues, produced a straightforward framework of what is needed to ensure the introduction of digital terrestrial broadcasting service, while maintaining the integrity of the existing analogue system." He acknowledged that there is still work to be done, "we don’t have all of the tools in place, such as the necessary software, and our timelines for the planning exercises in the intersessional period are tight, but I am sure that the Member States and the regional groups who have worked so constructively during the first conference will live up to the commitments they’ve made."

There are several reasons for going digital:

Digital broadcasting uses the radio-frequency spectrum much more efficiently than analogue broadcasting. For terrestrial television, four to five digital TV programmes can be accommodated in the same amount of frequency spectrum currently required to transmit a single analogue TV programme. The improved efficiency is known as the ‘digital dividend’. The extent of this ‘digital dividend’, in terms of additional frequency space made available won’t be known until the work of the intercessional period is completed and the second phase of the conference adopts the Plan.

Engineering an appropriate transition period between the analogue and digital service to satisfy the demands of administrations, broadcasters and consumers, at the same time ensuring the integrity of existing services, was not a simple task.

While there is demand for digital broadcasting services, the financial costs to the industry and the consumer were a major consideration. Mr Timofeev is confident that the technical and planning framework adopted by the conference "will usher in the era of digital broadcasting because it provides clear a-priori criteria for the establishment of new service, without causing undue interference to existing services and at the same time it provides the flexibility needed to respond to new market realities such as those created by mobile communications."

During the transition period, the existing and planned analogue assignments will continue to be used and protected by the new digital plan. After this period, analogue assignments may continue to be used, provided that:

This period starts at the date of entry into force of the new agreement and ends on a date to be agreed by the second session of the conference. Two options were identified with respect to this second date:

Option 1 — As early as possible and preferably not later than 2015; however, longer or shorter transition periods may be agreed multilaterally provided they do not affect other administrations concerned.

Option 2 — No earlier than 2028 and no later than 2038; however, shorter transition periods may be agreed multilaterally.

It is up to each administration to decide on the date as to when its analogue transmissions will cease. The date of entry into force of the new agreement, to be decided by the second session, should not be earlier than 12 months after the end of the second session.

While most countries in the planning area use the broadcasting service in the bands 174-230 MHz and 470-862 MHz, the broadcasting service does not have exclusive access to these bands. Therefore, the framework that was agreed to will consider the following sharing situations with other primary services:

In the VHF band between the broadcasting and the following primary services:

In the UHF band between the broadcasting and the following primary services:

The framework identified areas in the planning region where a compatible operation needs to be ensured between digital terrestrial broadcasting and primary non-broadcasting services. However, interference may also occur not only within the bands (as above) but also, between adjacent bands. The Conference will continue to identify criteria for the testing of compatibility within and between bands, to ensure the integrity of its testing methods during the period between the two sessions of RRC.

Protecting the aeronautical radionavigation service from harmful interference during any transition to a digital broadcasting service was one of the priority considerations for the Conference.

There are several types of systems, which needed to be protected. These include:

Work on developing protection criteria has already begun, but it will be challenging, as several services including broadcasting operate in the same frequency band used by the aeronautical radionavigation service. Increased demand for frequency space for this service could have an impact on the integrity of the aeronautical radionavigation service.

The Conference decided to carry out additional studies urgently, in order to develop the protection criteria for these types of radionavigation systems. A report will be made to the second session of the Conference.

The ITU Constitution includes the principle of "equitable access" to frequency resources. It was recognized by the conference that the agreement must provide a framework in which individual countries can continue to develop their individual and different requirements on an equitable access basis. However, the methods and criteria for the implementation of the principle of equitable access will be studied during the intersessional period and reported to the second session for consideration.

The Republic of Iraq, which has been absent from ITU conferences and meetings for over a decade but is included in the planning area, will follow a special procedure. It will be required to submit a list of its analogue broadcasting assignments to ITU by the 28 August. ITU will examine the list and will identify any frequency assignments of other Member States in the planning area that could be affected before the first planning exercise of the intersessional period. The Republic of Iraq and those others concerned will make every effort to coordinate the assignments. The uncoordinated assignments will be submitted to the second session of the conference for its consideration and action, if needed.

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