Joint ETSI-CEPT Workshop on Public Protection and Disaster Relief - Regulatory Changes on New Opportunities for Broadband PPDR

The ECC decided at its 41st meeting in March 2016 to have a Joint ETSI-CEPT Workshop on Public Protection and Disaster Relief - Regulatory Changes and New Opportunities for Broadband PPDR.

In October 2015, the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) Electronics Communications Committee (ECC) Report 218 addressed spectrum options for the implementation of broadband PPDR services in CEPT countries in the 400 and 700 MHz frequency ranges. The Report proposed the concept of “flexible harmonisation” to enable an efficient implementation of (BroadBand) BB-PPDR LTE within CEPT and did not designate a single frequency band for PPDR LTE in Europe (see the ECC Newsletter from 11/2015 on BB-PPDR).

The ECC Decision (16)02, published in June 2016, addresses BB-PPDR spectrum in the 450 – 470 and 700 MHz ranges. On 29 September, there will be a joint European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)-CEPT ECC Workshop on BB-PPDR in Sophia Antipolis, France. A main target is to link the standardisation work to the CEPT harmonisation approach.

Figure: 700 MHz Options for BB-PPDR (source: ECC Report 218)

OVERVIEW – GOALS – TARGET AUDIENCE – PROGRAMME COMMITEE

The event took place on on 29 September 2016, in ETSI Headquarters, Sophia Antipolis, France with about 100 participants.

This one-day workshop on Broadband Public Protection and Disaster Relief (BB-PPDR) provided a platform for all relevant parties, especially standardization and manufacturing industry, PPDR organisations (authorities, service providers), spectrum regulators, PPDR users (police fire brigade, ambulance services), Ministries of Interior. The workshop informed the audience about the up-to-date situation on BB-PPDR, identified required future activities in various areas (standardisation, national implementation, regulation) and will foster the interrelation between those areas.

The workshop provided  an overview about the existing achievements in the CEPT/ECC on Broadband PPDR (ECC Reports, ECC Decisions and ECC Recommendations) as well as the process behind, from the original ETSI system reference document to the ECC Decision (ETSI-CEPT/ECC collaboration process). The BB-PPDR regulatory harmonization approach also needs technical conditions to be adequately covered and specified in detail in the future ETSI harmonized European Standard and further ETSI standards and specifications to achieve interoperability and cross-border communication. This also includes the clear identification of the areas for which solutions are still outstanding or still need to progress.

The information about the existing standardization activities (agreed standards and specifications as well as already agreed work items) in support of the CEPT initiative in 3GPP and ETSI was set out. In addition, standard conformance and interoperability are very important for BB-PPDR, especially when seen under the flexible harmonisation concept for BB-PPDR as decided by CEPT. ETSI outlined the support and tools available in the ETSI Centre for Testing & Interoperability.

The workshop set out the existing achievements and already agreed standardisation activities, complemented by forward-looking presentations.

Status reports and national case studies from various countries were presented. Roadmaps and main expected challenges were reported to give a good overview of what can be expected for national implementation of BB-PPDR networks.

The workshop also provided a platform for industry and stakeholder associations to provide their perspective. This  provided some reflection on the CEPT spectrum harmonisation approach, the standardisation activities, and identified from another perspective the need for outstanding challenges which are still to be solved.

The outcome of the workshop will support the ongoing activities in the area of standardisation (ETSI, 3GPP). It also showed options for the national choice of the most suitable implementation model, the selection of the relevant frequency ranges and decision on the amount of spectrum, based on the European results on BB-PPDR.

PROGRAMME COMMITTEE

• Chair: Thomas Weilacher (BNetzA, CEPT FM Chair)
• Holger Butscheidt (BNetzA, ETSI ERM Chair)
• Laurent Bodusseau (ANFR, CEPT FM49 Chair)
• Michael Sharpe (ETSI)
• Thomas Weber (ECO)

The programme of the Workshop is available here.

A more detailed description of the workshop sessions is available here.

Information about the venue (ETSI headquarters), directions, travel information etc are available at the ETSI website.

Abstracts and biographies of the speakers are also made available on the ETSI website.

The presentations are available here, the closing remarks (first summary) here.

The results of the workshop will be communicated in an ECC Newsletter, soon to come.

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For further information, contact Mr Thomas Weber ([email protected])

European Communications Office