PTC takes a two–part overview of the world’s premier intergovernmental radiocommunications conference. What’s on the table?

The tickets are ready. The bags are packed. The negotiations … well, they will arrive shortly. WRC–19, the world’s leading intergovernmental radiocommunications meet, is about to begin.

In a time of 5G and a slew of other services – some still on the drawing board – few doubt the importance of the decision–making in prospect. The economic implications of the upcoming talks could not be larger. Modern radiocommunications is now a multi-trillion-dollar technology edifice supporting a connected global economy. Mobile, broadcasting, and satellite communications together with Wi-Fi, wireless microphone connectivity, earth sensing, radio astronomy, and many other applications vie for limited resources, particularly in spectrum. For the technological, commercial, and geopolitical interests involved, the stakes are now undeniably huge.

High Stakes in a “5G WRC”?
Regulatory rulemaking, on an international scale, to allocate spectrum and keep services free from unacceptable interference is therefore a must. Making – and keeping – the rules is the job of the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), an intergovernmental meeting held customarily on four-yearly cycles.

WRC-19 may be the most important WRC to date. Mario Maniewicz, director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau that administers WRC suggests WRC-19 will be “a major landmark” in the evolution of a trillion-dollar telecommunication and ICT industry ecosystem. Joe Barrett, president of the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), points out: “WRC-19 is the most important spectrum event on the calendar this year and is the culmination of four years of spectrum analysis and discussion.”

“Some are calling this the ‘5G WRC’,” says Tricia Paoletta, a partner at Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP in Washington, D.C. and spectrum management specialist, “[given] so much spectrum is expected to be identified in the mmWave band for mobile network densification to allow the broader channels and higher speeds 5G requires and promises.”

Perhaps most evidently, political interests are now indisputably involved, and a new type of diplomacy may be emerging. “When diplomats and tech experts meet for the WRC-19, they will encounter a very different world of “radiocommunication diplomacy” from the one they left in 2015 after their last conference,” says Dr. Jovan Kurbalija, executive director of DiploFoundation and head of the Geneva Internet Platform. “In four  years, ‘radio waves’ have moved to the central stage of global geopolitics.”

Getting the framework together for an initiative probably unique in the global high-tech community is itself therefore a formidable challenge. WRC-19, about to convene in Sharm  El-Sheikh, Egypt, expects more than 3,000 delegates from 190 countries and private sector organizations for an intensive, month-long round of detailed rule-making on spectrum and satellite orbital management. The “rules,” as embodied in the Radio Regulations that emerge as the definitive treaty level agreement, cover international relationships only, leaving national governments and regulators to set particular arrangements inside borders.

“The Agenda for WRC-19 covers a series of issues related to the use of radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits,” Mario Maniewicz told PTC in a special interview. “It includes items that will have an impact on future broadband connectivity and on the evolving digital society, such as 5G mobile (IMT-2020 in ITU terminology).” He adds: “But it also includes high-altitude platform stations (HAPS), radio local area networks (RLANs); and also terrestrial wireless applications such as aeronautical and maritime communications, intelligent transport systems (ITS), railway wireless technologies; and satellite systems operating in non-geostationary satellite orbits (NGSO) providing a fixed-satellite service (FSS), and earth stations in motion (ESIM).” (See Sidebar 1.)

New and existing services must co-exist. Mr. Maniewicz points out: “All radiocommunications systems need to operate in accordance with internationally regulated spectrum allocations to allow them to function without causing harmful interference to other radio systems and devices.”

It is also a game of high stakes economics. He continues: “These technologies require the establishment of a stable, forward-looking and harmonized international regulatory framework, one capable of providing certainty to investors, economies of scale, and interoperability – a framework that ensures interference-free operation with necessary performance and quality of services.” Given what is frequently (and necessarily) a patchwork of practices around the world, he calls the harmonization efforts achieved so far “massively successful.”

All of this means that the WRC cycle is continuously active throughout the four-year period, and each WRC determines preparatory and negotiating activity for the next one guided by an Agenda agreed in advance. The cycle framework accepts input from many stakeholders and allows for a detailed technical study of Agenda Items. An international cycle of preparatory meetings feeds consolidated inputs to the WRC itself where decisions are made on a consensus basis. (See Sidebar 2.)

The clockwork-like intricacies of developing common and harmonized positions extend to the regional level. The Asia-Pacific Telecommunity’s APG is responsible for the planning in the region and preparations for WRC-19, drawing inputs from 38 Member States. “APG represents a very diverse set of countries,” points out Dr. Kyu-Jin Wee, chair of the APG, “from highly advanced territories to remote and developing regions still underserved in wireless communications.” Spectrum management practice in the region is also highly diverse, he says. The APG, as a Regional Group, has focused attention on all major Agenda Items for WRC-19 and negotiations on outstanding items will continue in WRC-19. “We will also seek to have common positions where appropriate with other Regional Groups in order to ease harmonized use of radio spectrum,” says Dr. Wee.

What Does 5G Need?
But pressures are building as new services enter the frame. At WRC-19, there is a particular focus on the innocuously labelled Agenda Item 1.13. This seeks to examine proposals for 5G mobile to use additional bands in higher frequencies than the mobile industry previously had the technology to use. It may be the first of many such requirements given the burgeoning demand from the mobile sector. The GSA’s Joe Barrett points out, “Spectrum for 5G above 6 GHz is a key component of WRC-19 and GSA is representing the mobile supplier ecosystem in cooperation with the mobile operator association, GSMA, to support the allocation of enough harmonized spectrum to make sure 5G services can be delivered and customer expectations can be met.”

He continues: “Access to a broad range of spectrum resource is the main growth driver for the deployment of wireless services; conversely spectrum can also be a limiting factor for the expansion of wireless broadband into new markets and industries. GSA therefore advocates that a range of frequency bands should be made available for mobile broadband including the low-band (below 2 GHz), mid-band (2 GHz to 6 GHz) and high-band (above 6 GHz).”

Moreover, it will need to be available in specific configurations. “GSA recommends that at least 1 GHz of spectrum, ideally contiguous, is made available per network, from high-bands to support the full range of coverage and capacity needs that are, and will be, demanded by public organizations, private businesses, and consumers,” says Mr. Barrett. “Commercial deployments in the U.S. are underway, and Korea and Japan services are planned to start in 2020. Many other countries are in the process of planning to license high-bands following WRC-19.”