14th Review Meeting

14TH FACSMAB Review Meeting

AITI HOSTED THE 14TH FACSMAB REVIEW MEETING

The 14th FACSMAB Review Meeting was hosted by Brunei Darussalam on 22nd January 2013 at the Magellan Sutera Harbour & Resort, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. The meeting was chaired by Hj YahkupHj Menudin, Chief Executive of AITI and was attended by Dato’ Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi, Chairman of MCMC and Mr Leong Keng Thai, Deputy Chief Executive & Director-General of IDA. During the meeting, three new work items have been confirmed. They are (i) Detailed Band Plan for the Harmonisation of IMT Systems (ii) Coordination Parameters for Broadcasting Services in UHF/ VHF Bands along Common Borders and(iii) Addressing Cross Border Co-ordination on Future Heterogeneous Mobile Technologies Deployments. * **Detailed band plan for the harmonisation of IMT systems

In accommodating the increasing demand of mobile broadband growth, several spectrum bands have been identified for IMT. One area of interest is the frequency bands below 1 GHz as these bands provide better coverage and indoor penetration due to its propagation characteristics.

Efforts to harmonize the use of the spectrum for mobile service at the common border areas have been dealt with efficiently by the FACSMAB member countries. A common harmonized band plan serves as a good starting point to facilitate the co-existence of IMT systems within the common border areas.

FACSMAB plans to study the possible band plan options focusing on the bands identified for IMT systems below 1 GHz and agree on a harmonized band plan for the deployment of IMT systems.

Coordination Parameters for Broadcasting services in UHF/ VHF Bands along common borders In the 13th FACSMAB Review meeting, FACSMAB Review Members endorsed the ‘Agreed Band Plans Coordinated in FACSMAB’ which agreed to have a default coordination distance of 50km for bands where its coordination distance has not been defined.

As broadcasting services use a high transmission power, coordination distance for this service has not been agreed. A study needs to be conducted to verify whether the coordination distance of 50km is sufficient.

FACSMAB has decided to conduct studies through appropriate methods to define coordination parameters for broadcasting services.

Addressing Cross Border Co-ordination on Future Heterogeneous Mobile Technologies Deployments

As one of many efforts to address demand from increasing mobile data traffic, cellular operators are beginning to deploy heterogeneous mobile technologies into the same or new spectrum bands utilised by existing systems. This could introduce a new degree of complication and level of involvement in the border co-ordination efforts among mobile operators.

Similarly, it is foreseeable that the existing border co-ordination parameters and methodologies adopted among FACSMAB members may no longer be sufficient nor will it remain as relevant in the emerging future.

FACSMAB, therefore, decided to study, validate and develop a common set of agreed co-ordination parameters to address potential interference issues of such deployments among FACSMAB countries. This would also ensure better harmonised use of different mobile technologies at common border areas.