United States of America

DRAFT PROPOSAL FOR THE WORK OF THE CONFERENCE[^1]

**Agenda Item 1.3**: to consider identification of globally/regionally
harmonized bands, to the extent practicable, for the implementation of
future advanced solutions to meet the needs of public protection
agencies, including those dealing with emergency situations and disaster
relief, and to make regulatory provisions, as necessary, taking into
account Resolution **645 (WRC 2000)**;

**Background Information**: At WRC-2000, there were discussions of the
radiocommunication needs of public agencies and organizations dealing
with law and order, disaster relief and emergency response. Based on
these discussions and a proposal that was submitted on this subject by
one Administration, which was supported by several Administrations
WRC-2000 recommended that this issue be on the Agenda for WRC-2003.
WRC-2000 also adopted Resolution **645**, which invited the ITU-R to
undertake appropriate studies and report the results of these studies to
WRC-03. In addition to the invitation to study the identification of
frequency bands that could be used on a global/regional basis by
Administrations intending to implement future solutions for public
protection and disaster relief, Resolution 645 also invites the ITU-R to
conduct studies for the development of a resolution identifying the
technical and operational basis for cross-border circulation of
radiocommunication equipment in emergency and disaster relief
situations.

Based on the studies conducted by the ITU-R, the United States believes
that any spectrum recognized for future advanced solutions for public
protection and disaster relief should be developed in an ITU-R
Recommendation and linked to the Radio Regulations through a WRC
Recommendation. The attached proposed WRC Recommendation recognizes the
importance of spectrum used for public protection and disaster relief,
acknowledges the need for national prerogatives, and allows flexible
updates without maintaining a WRC agenda item specifically for this
issue. The proposed WRC Recommendation provides uniform guidance to
Administrations, users and manufacturers, without conveying any special
status or priority to public protection and disaster relief in Article
**5** of the Radio Regulations.

The proposed WRC Recommendation will help promote economies of scale in
the production of radiocommunication equipment for public protection and
disaster relief, the consolidation of duplicated infrastructure,
spectrum efficiency, operational effectiveness, and interoperability
nationally, regionally, and globally. It also will facilitate
cross-border public protection operations and foster the ability of
rescue teams from different Administrations and international relief
organizations to communicate and interact more quickly and efficiently,
thereby speeding disaster relief efforts. At the same time, such a
Recommendation will not constrain the ability of any Administration or
relief organization to continue to use spectrum it currently uses for
public protection and disaster relief.

The United States believes that it is neither necessary nor advisable to
identify frequency bands in Article **5** of the Radio Regulations for
public protection and disaster relief. Band identification is not needed
to achieve spectrum harmonization. Administrations have the flexibility
to designate any band for public protection and disaster relief, and
thus they already may use common frequency bands for public protection
and disaster relief. Therefore, there is no need for Article **5** of
the Radio Regulations to identify bands specifically for that purpose.
Furthermore, if bands are identified in Article **5** of the Radio
Regulations, there is a risk that Administrations may misinterpret the
identification as a constraint on their ability to use those bands for
purposes other than public protection and disaster relief. Moreover,
identifying frequency bands in Article **5** of the Radio Regulations
for public protection and disaster relief applications, compared to
other mobile systems or radio services that are not footnoted in the
Radio Regulations, could be misinterpreted as giving a different
regulatory status to public protection and disaster relief compared with
other uses.

**Proposal**:

##### USA/ /1 ADD

RECOMMENDATION Public protection and disaster relief (WRC-03)

Public protection and disaster relief

The World Radiocommunication Conference (Geneva, 2003),

*considering*

a)  the growing and increasing telecommunication and radiocommunication
    needs of public protection agencies and organizations including
    those dealing with emergency situations and disaster relief that are
    vital to the maintenance of law and order, protection of life and
    property, disaster relief, and emergency response;

b)  that future advanced solutions used by such public protection and
    disaster relief agencies and organizations will require high data
    rates and possibly contiguous blocks of spectrum for some
    applications;

c)  that there is a need for interoperability and interworking between
    public protection and disaster relief networks, both nationally and
    for cross-border operations, in emergency situations and disaster
    relief

d)  that current public protection and disaster relief applications are
    mostly narrow-band, including voice and low data‑rate applications,
    typically in channel bandwidths of 25 kHz or less;

e)  that although there will continue to be narrow‑band requirements,
    many future applications will be wideband (indicative data rates in
    range of 384-500 kb/s) and broadband (indicative data rates in range
    of 1-100 Mbit/s) with channel bandwidths dependent on the use of
    spectrally efficient technologies;

f)  that commercial systems can serve as a complement to dedicated
    systems in support of public protection and disaster relief
    applications and that such complementary use would be in response to
    market demands;

g)  that there is potential for new technologies such as IMT-2000 and
    systems beyond and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) that
    will support or supplement advanced public protection and disaster
    relief applications;

h)  that Resolution **36 (PP-98)** urges Member States to facilitate use
    of telecommunications for the safety and security of humanitarian
    personnel,

i)  that Draft New Recommendation ITU-R M.\[DR.RCIRC\] offers guidance
    to facilitate the global circulation of radiocommunication equipment
    in emergency and disaster relief situations

*recognizing*

a)  the benefits of different Administrations using common frequency
    bands for public protection and disaster relief, such as:

b)  increased potential for interoperability;

    i.  a broader manufacturing base and increased volume of equipment
        resulting in economies of scale and expanded availability of
        equipment;

    ii. improved spectrum management and planning;

    iii. enhanced cross‑border and international coordination;

    iv. improved cross-border circulation of equipment;

    v.  efficient use of radio frequency spectrum;

c)  that spectrum planning for public protection and disaster relief is
    done at the national level, taking into account the need for
    interoperability and the benefits of neighboring administrations
    using common frequency bands;

d)  the benefits of cooperation between countries for the provision of
    effective humanitarian assistance during disasters;

e)  the special needs of developing countries, taking into account the
    ITU-D Handbook Disaster Communications

f)  the needs of countries for cost-effective communications equipment
    for public protection and disaster relief agencies and
    organizations;

g)  that the trend is to increase the use of Internet Protocol (IP)
    based technologies;

h\) that currently administrations have designated some bands below 1
GHz allocated to the fixed and mobile services in all 3 Regions for
their exclusive public protection and disaster relief use;

i\) that for solving future bandwidth requirements, there are several
emerging technologies such as software defined radios, crossbanding,
advanced compression waveforms and networking, that may be applied to
increase the data throughput of systems supporting protection and
disaster relief which may reduce the amount of spectrum required to
support public protection and disaster relief applications;

j\) that technology exists today to enable dissimilar radios to be
interoperable across different frequency bands with different waveforms

k\) that in times of disasters, when most terrestrial based networks are
destroyed or impaired, amateurs, satellite and other non-ground based
networks may be able to provide communications services to assist in
public protection and disaster relief efforts;

*noting*

a)  that public protection radiocommunications refers to
    radiocommunications used by responsible agencies and organizations
    dealing with maintenance of law and order, protection of life and
    property, and emergency situations;

b)  that disaster relief radiocommunications refers to
    radiocommunications used by agencies and organizations dealing with
    a serious disruption of the functioning of society, posing a
    significant, widespread threat to human life, health, property or
    the environment, whether caused by accident, nature or human
    activity, and whether developing suddenly or as a result of complex,
    long-term process;

c)  that many administrations use frequency bands below 1 GHz for
    narrow-band public protection and disaster relief applications;

d)  that applications requiring large coverage areas and providing good
    signal availability would generally be accommodated in lower
    frequency bands;

e)  that applications requiring wider bandwidths would generally be
    accommodated in progressively higher bands;

f)  that in most administrations, public protection and disaster relief
    applications are provided at multiple administrative levels,
    starting with national down to local levels, and cooperation between
    the levels is a national matter to which common frequency bands and
    interoperable operations could assist;

g)  the existing investment in systems supporting public protection and
    disaster relief that many administrations have made;

h)  that flexibility must be afforded to disaster relief agencies and
    organizations to use current and future radiocommunication in an
    independent manner, so as to facilitate their humanitarian
    operations,

*recommends*

1.  that, to the maximum extent possible, administrations encourage the
    use of common frequency bands for public protection and disaster
    relief applications;

2.  that administrations are encouraged to satisfy temporary needs for
    frequencies in addition to what may be normally provided for in
    agreements with neighbouring administrations in emergency and
    disaster relief situations;

3.  that by indicating the use of these bands for public protection and
    disaster relief applications, administrations are not precluded from
    using any other bands for public protection and disaster relief
    applications in accordance with the Radio Regulations;

4.  that the use of these bands by public protection and disaster relief
    applications does not preclude or prevent the continued use of these
    bands by other services to which they are allocated and the use of
    these bands by public protection and disaster relief does not confer
    any priority to public protection and disaster relief over existing
    radio services.

5.  that administrations encourage public protection and disaster relief
    agencies and organizations to utilize both existing and new
    technologies and solutions, to the extent practicable, to satisfy
    their public protection and disaster relief interoperability
    requirements and to further the goals of public protection and
    disaster relief agencies and organizations;

6.  that administrations encourage agencies and organizations to use
    advanced wireless solutions, such as IMT-2000 and ITS, for providing
    complementary support for the communication needs of public
    protection and disaster relief agencies and organizations,

*further recommends*

1.  that administrations currently utilizing bands below 1 GHz,
    allocated to the fixed and mobile services, for public protection
    and disaster relief narrowband radiocommunications are encouraged to
    continue using spectrum below 1 GHz for narrow-band PPDR
    applications;

2.  that administrations encourage public protection and disaster relief
    agencies and organizations to utilize relevant ITU-R Recommendations
    in planning spectrum use and implementing technology and systems
    supporting public protection and disaster relief;

3.  that recognition of spectrum for public protection and disaster
    relief should not preclude the use of any other spectrum to bring
    aid in times of disaster and humanitarian assistance.

invites ITU-R

to continue its technical studies and make recommendations concerning
public protection and disaster relief's overall objectives, applications
and technical and operational implementation, as necessary, for the
future advanced solutions for meeting the future needs of public
protection and disaster relief radiocommunications

**Reasons**: Creating a WRC Recommendation, without any specific
identification in Article **5** of the Radio Regulations, avoids
misinterpretation of the regulatory status of systems supporting public
protection and disaster relief applications and disassociates any
additional recognition of spectrum for public protection and disaster
relief from the Table of Frequency Allocations. Furthermore, a WRC
Recommendation will highlight and identify important points regarding
public protection and disaster relief radiocommunications. Concerning
this agenda item, every effort should be made to complete the work for
WRC-03. To address any future developments after WRC-03, the
Recommendation invites the ITU-R to continue its technical studies, as
necessary.

**USA/ /2 [NOC]{.underline}**

**Article 5**

**Frequency Allocations**

**Reasons**: At this point in time, there has been little support from
internationally oriented public safety or disaster relief organizations
for the identification of frequency bands in Article **5** of the Radio
Regulations for public protection and disaster relief. Moreover,
significant concerns have been raised regarding possible regulatory
restrictions that may result from international identification of
spectrum for public protection or disaster relief. Therefore, in order
to avoid any perceived constraints on the ability of individual
administrations to use spectrum in which they currently operate, it is
appropriate not to make changes to Article **5** of the Radio
Regulations.

**USA/ /3 SUP**

**Resolution 645 (WRC-2000)**

**Reasons**: It is possible to conclude this agenda item at WRC-03 on
the basis that the necessary regulatory requirements have been met.
Resolution **645 (WRC‑2000)** should be suppressed.

[^1]: This is a revision to an earlier U.S. proposal for Agenda Item 1.3
    (October 18, 2002)