WIA attends Asia-Pacific Telecommunity Meeting

The Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) is a Regional Telecommunication Organisation (RTO) that, among other things, develops the Asia-Pacific regional view on World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) agenda items. The fourth meeting of the APT Preparatory group (APG) for WRC-19 (APG19-4) was held in Busan, Republic of Korea, from 7-12 January 2019. A total of 410 delegates from APT member states attended. It is important that the amateur service be represented at these meetings to ensure the best outcome for Region 3 amateurs.

Regional views on WRC-19 agenda items (AIs) are important as the various RTOs carry considerable weight at the WRC negotiations. The Australian delegation of 20 members was jointly headed by Department of Communications and the Arts (DOCA) and supported by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Australian delegates represented various government departments, statutory authorities, broadcasters and satellite operators.

Peter Pokorny VK2EMR represented WIA in place of Dale Hughes VK1DSH at this meeting and was responsible for WRC-19 agenda item 1.1.

There were other amateurs attending, including Mr Ken Yamamoto JA1CJP (IARU Region 3 Secretary) was a member of the Japanese delegation and represented the JARL and the other IARU delegates were Mr Shizuo Endo JE1MUI and Mr Wisnu Widjaja YB0AZ (Director, IARU Region 3).

The main WRC-19 amateur issue is agenda item 1.1 which relates to a possible new amateur allocation in the 50 – 54 MHz frequency band in ITU Region 1 and therefore is not of direct concern for Region 3 amateurs, however it is important to ensure that any decisions made by WRC-19 on this issue do not affect the Region 3 amateur allocations.

For APG19-4 Australia submitted input contributions on all WRC-19 agenda items including items 1.1 and 9.1.6 and these contributions were considered in developing the preliminary APT Preliminary Views and associated output documents.

The IARU preliminary views on WRC-19 agenda items are given as the Annex of this report.

The APG19-4 meeting was the penultimate APG meeting in the WRC-19 study cycle, and most views on WRC agenda items are starting to crystallise, and will be finalised at APG19-5, which will be held from 31 July – 6 August 2019 in Tokyo, Japan. The value of being at APG meetings (either as a member of a national delegation or as representative of the IARU) is finding out the various national views and being able to possibly influence national and regional views. A summary of the main results from APG19-3 is as follows:

Agenda Item - Issue - Preliminary View
1.1 - Region 1 50 – 54 MHz amateur allocation - Good
1.7 - Additional spectrum for small satellites - OK, but watch
1.11 - Railway systems; possible new allocation - OK, but watch
1.12 - Spectrum for Intelligent Transport Systems - OK, but remains a threat
1.13 - mm wave spectrum for IMT - OK, but watch
1.15 – 275 to 450 GHz for land-mobile and fixed services – OK, but watch
1.16 - Additional RLAN spectrum at 5 GHz – OK, but remains a threat
9.1.4 – Stations aboard sub-orbital vehicles - OK, but watch
9.1.6 - Wireless Power Transmission for electric vehicles - OK, but remains a threat
9.1.8 – NB and WB machine-type communications - Good

What is next?
The next APG and other WRC-related meetings are planned to occur as follows:

CPM19-2: 18 to 28 February 2019, Geneva (Switzerland)

APG19-5: 31 July to 6 August 2019, Tokyo (Japan)

RA-19: 21 to 25 October 2019, Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt)

WRC-19: 28 October to 22 November 2019, Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt).

By attending these meetings, the concerns of the amateur service are adequately expressed and incorporated in the relevant APG views and output texts.

Conclusion
APG19-4 was well run and successful; the views of the amateur service were represented in a professional manner and were noted in the relevant APG output documents. Input to future APG meetings through the WRC processes of each national administration (where possible) and the IARU on agenda items relevant to the amateur service is important and such input must be refined to clearly reflect the needs and concerns of the amateur service.

Links:
A full list of WRC-19 agenda items may be found in Resolution 809 (WRC-15).Link

The Australia Preliminary Views on all WRC-19 agenda items may be found on the ACMA website Link

The finalised APG19-4 Preliminary Views on WRC-19 agenda items will appear on the APT website APT APG-19 in due course. Link

ACMA details on Australian Radio Study Groups (particularly ARSG-5) Link
The IARU preliminary views on WRC-19 agenda items (as presented to APG19-4) is an annex to this report.

Peter’s report on APG19-4 with a little more detail can be found below:

Related Files

Unclassified Report on APG19-4 meeting
WIA_APG19_4_report_FOR PUBLIC RELEASE_Ver0.pdf

Page Last Updated: Friday 18 January 2019 at 22:20 hours by Justin Giles-clark

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