Decision 2008/294 - 2008/294/EC: 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 EC (notified under document number C(2008) 1256) - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 98/19

The i2010 — European Information Society strategic framework (2) — promotes an open and competitive digital economy in the European Union and emphasises ICT as a driver of inclusion and quality of life. Development of additional means of communicating could be beneficial for work productivity and for growth in the mobile telephony market.

Airborne connectivity applications are, by nature, pan-European as they will be used mostly for cross-border flights within the Community and beyond. A coordinated approach to regulate mobile communication services on aircraft (MCA services) will support the objectives of the Single Market.

Harmonisation of the rules on the use of radio spectrum across the Community will facilitate timely deployment and uptake of MCA services within the Community.

Commercial operation of MCA services is currently considered only for GSM systems operating in the 1 710-1 785 MHz band for uplink (terminal transmit and base station receive) and the 1 805-1 880 MHz band for downlink (base station transmit and terminal receive), in accordance with ETSI standards EN 301 502 and EN 301 511. However, in the future it may be extended to other terrestrial public mobile communication systems, operating in accordance with other standards and in other frequency bands.

Pursuant to Article 4(2) of Decision No 676/2002/EC, the Commission has given a mandate (3) to the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (hereinafter the CEPT) to undertake all activities required to assess specific issues concerning technical compatibility between the operation of airborne GSM 1800 systems and a number of radio services potentially affected. This Decision is based on the technical studies undertaken by the CEPT under the EC mandate, as presented in CEPT Report 016 (4).

The MCA system considered in the CEPT report consists of a network control unit (NCU) and an aircraft base transceiver station (aircraft BTS). The system is designed to ensure that signals transmitted by ground-based mobile systems are not detectable within the aircraft cabin and that the user terminals on the aircraft only transmit at a minimum level. The technical parameters for the NCU and aircraft BTS were derived from theoretical models.

Spectrum use by terrestrial mobile electronic communication networks is outside the scope of this Decision. They will be addressed, inter alia, by a Commission Decision on the harmonisation of the 900 MHz and 1 800 MHz frequency bands for terrestrial systems capable of providing pan-European electronic communication services.

Authorisation terms and conditions for MCA services are also outside the scope of this Decision. Coordination of national authorisation conditions for MCA services is addressed by Commission Recommendation 2008/295/EC (5) pursuant to Directive 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services (the Framework...