02008D0294 — EN — 28.11.2022 — 003.001

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►B COMMISSION DECISION of 7 April 2008 on harmonised conditions of spectrum use for the operation of mobile communication services on aircraft (MCA services) in the Community (notified under document number C(2008) 1256) (Text with EEA relevance) (2008/294/EC) (OJ L 098 10.4.2008, p. 19)

Amended by:









▼B

COMMISSION DECISION

of 7 April 2008

on harmonised conditions of spectrum use for the operation of mobile communication services on aircraft (MCA services) in the Community

(notified under document number C(2008) 1256)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2008/294/EC)







Article 1

The purpose of this Decision is to harmonise the technical conditions for the availability and efficient use of radio spectrum for mobile communication services on aircraft in the Community.

This Decision shall apply without prejudice to any other relevant Community provisions, in particular Regulation (EC) No 1702/2003 and Recommendation 2008/295/EC.

Article 2

For the purposes of this Decision:

1. ‘mobile communication services on aircraft (MCA services)’ means electronic communication services, as defined in Article 2(c) of Directive 2002/21/EC, provided by an undertaking to enable airline passengers to use public communication networks during flight without establishing direct connections with terrestrial mobile networks;

2. ‘non-interference and non-protected basis’ means that no harmful interference may be caused to any radiocommunication service and that no claim may be made for protection of these devices against harmful interference originating from radiocommunication services;

3. ‘aircraft base transceiver station (aircraft BTS)’ means one or more mobile communication stations located in the aircraft supporting the frequency bands and systems specified in Table 1 in the Annex;

4. ‘network control unit (NCU)’ means equipment to be located in the aircraft that ensures that signals transmitted by ground-based mobile electronic communication systems listed in Table 2 in the Annex are not detectable within the cabin by raising the noise floor inside the cabin in mobile communication receive bands.

Article 3

As early as possible, and no later than six months following the entry into force of this Decision, the Member States shall make the frequency bands listed in Table 1 in the Annex available for MCA services on a non-interference and non-protected basis, provided such services meet the conditions set out in the Annex.

Article 4

The Member States shall set the minimum height above ground for any transmission from an MCA system in operation in accordance with section 3 of the Annex.

Member States may impose greater minimum heights of MCA operation where justified by national topographical and ground network deployment conditions. This information, supported by appropriate justification, shall be notified to the Commission within four months of adoption of this Decision and shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 5

Member States shall keep use of spectrum by MCA services under scrutiny, in particular with regard to actual or potential harmful interference and to the continued relevance of all the conditions specified in Article 3, and shall report their findings to the Commission to allow a timely review of this Decision if necessary.

Article 6

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

▼M3









ANNEX

1. Frequency bands and systems allowed for MCA Services







Table 1 Type Frequency System GSM 1 800 1 710 -1 785 MHz (uplink) 1 805 -1 880 MHz (downlink) GSM complying with the GSM standards as published by ETSI, in particular EN 301 502, EN 301 511 and EN 302 480, or equivalent specifications. UMTS 2 100 (FDD) 1 920 -1 980 MHz (uplink) 2 110 -2 170 MHz (downlink) UMTS complying with the UMTS standards as published by ETSI, in particular EN 301 908-1 EN 301 908-2, EN 301 908-3 and EN 301 908-11, or equivalent specifications. LTE 1 800 (FDD) 1 710 -1 785 MHz (uplink) 1 805 -1 880 MHz (downlink) LTE complying with LTE standards, as published by ETSI, in particular EN 301 908-1, EN 301 908-13, EN 301 908-14, and EN 301 908-15, or equivalent specifications. 5G NR non-AAS 1 710 -1 785 MHz (uplink)1 805 -1 880 MHz (downlink) 5G NR non-AAS complying with the 5G NR standards as published by ETSI, in particular EN 301 908-24 and EN 301 908-25, or equivalent specifications.

2. Prevention of connection of mobile terminals to ground networks

(a) Until 1 January 2026, mobile terminals receiving within the frequency bands and systems listed in Table 2 must be prevented from attempting to register with UMTS mobile networks on the ground: — by the inclusion, in the MCA system, of a network control unit (NCU), which raises the noise floor inside the cabin in mobile receive bands, and/or — by aircraft fuselage shielding to further attenuate the signal entering and leaving the fuselage.



Table 2 Frequency bands (MHz) Systems on the ground 925 -960 MHz UMTS 2 110 -2 170 MHz UMTS After this date, MCA operators may decide to continue implementing an NCU in the frequency bands and systems listed in Table 2.

(b) In addition to the provisions in paragraph a), MCA operators may decide to implement an NCU for terrestrial systems providing electronic communications services in the frequency bands listed in Table 3.



Table 3 Frequency bands (MHz) 460 -470 MHz 791 -821 MHz 925 -960 MHz 1 805 -1 880 MHz 2 110 -2 170 MHz 2 620 -2 690 MHz 2 570 -2 620 MHz

3. Technical parameters

(a) Equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP) limits, outside the aircraft, resulting from the NCU/aircraft Base Station (BS)



Table 4 Height above ground (m) Maximum EIRP outside the aircraft in dBm/(channel bandwidth) NCU (1) Aircraft GSM and LTE BS Aircraft 5G NR non-AAS BS Aircraft UMTS BS and NCU Band: 900 MHz Band: 1 800 MHz Band: 1 800 MHz Band: 2 100 MHz Channel Bandwidth = 3,84 MHz Channel Bandwidth = 200 kHz (2) Channel Bandwidth = 5 MHz (3) Channel Bandwidth = 3,84 MHz 3 000 - 6,2 - 13,0 10 1,0 4 000 - 3,7 - 10,5 13 3,5 5 000 - 1,7 - 8,5 15 5,4 6 000 - 0,1 - 6,9 16 7,0 7 000 1,2 - 5,6 18 8,3 8 000 2,3 - 4,4 19 9,5 ( 1 ) The aircraft BS is not in operation at 900 MHz, however, an NCU is needed to prevent terminals using other MCA channels from connecting to the 900 MHz UMTS terrestrial networks. ( 2 ) For channel bandwidth other than 200 kHz, a correction, calculated by the formula 10 × log10 (channel bandwidth/(200 kHz)) dB, shall be added to the EIRP values. ( 3 ) For channel bandwidth other than 5 MHz, a correction, calculated by the formula 10 × log10 (channel bandwidth/(5 MHz)) dB, shall be added to the EIRP values.

(b) EIRP limits outside the aircraft, resulting from the mobile terminal operating on board



Table 5 Height above ground Maximum EIRP, outside the aircraft, from the GSM mobile terminal in dBm/200 kHz Maximum EIRP, outside the aircraft, from the LTE mobile terminal in dBm/5 MHz (1) Maximum EIRP, outside the aircraft, from the LTE and 5G NR mobile terminal in dBm/5 MHz (2) (3) (4) Maximum EIRP, outside the aircraft, from the UMTS mobile terminal in dBm/3,84 MHz (m) GSM 1 800 MHz LTE 1 800 MHz LTE and 5G NR 1 800 MHz UMTS 2 100 MHz 3 000 - 3,3 1,7 0 3,1 4 000 - 1,1 3,9 2 5,6 5 000 0,5 5 4 7 6 000 1,8 5 6 7 7 000 2,9 5 7 7 8 000 3,8 5 8 7 ( 1 ) These conditions apply to the operation of MCA systems installed until 31 December 2022. ( 2 ) These conditions apply to the operation of MCA systems installed after 31 December 2022. ( 3 ) For channel bandwidth other than 5 MHz, a correction, calculated by the formula 10 × log10 (channel bandwidth/5 MHz) dB, shall be added to the EIRP values. ( 4 ) The EIRP is specified per channel regardless of the used channel bandwidth due to the fact that multiple mobile terminals could be operated.

(c) EIRP limits outside the aircraft, resulting from the NCU, in other relevant frequency bands When MCA operators decide to use an NCU to prevent mobile terminals from attempting to register with non UMTS mobile networks on the ground in the frequency bands listed in Table 3, the maximum values indicated in Table 6 apply for the total EIRP outside the aircraft, resulting from the NCU, in conjunction with the values mentioned in Table 4.



Table 6 Height above ground (m) Maximum EIRP outside the aircraft, resulting from the NCU 460 - 470 MHz 791 - 821 MHz 1 805 - 1 880 MHz 2 570 - 2 690 MHz dBm/1,25 MHz dBm/10 MHz dBm/200 kHz dBm/4,75 MHz 3 000 - 17,0 - 0,87 - 13,0 1,9 4 000 - 14,5 1,63 - 10,5 4,4 5 000 - 12,6 3,57 - 8,5 6,3 6 000 - 11,0 5,15 - 6,9 7,9 7 000 - 9,6 6,49 - 5,6 9,3 8 000 - 8,5 7,65 - 4,4 10,4