Australia - CASBAA

Australia

Frequency Allocations for the C-Band

History

At WRC-07 Australia did not sign any of the IMT opt-in footnotes in 3 400 – 3 600 MHz band. However, Australia has a long experience of licensing FWA in this band. Since the late 1990’s parts of the 3 400-3 600 MHz band have been used for FWA. Australia issued spectrum licenses for parts of the 3 400-3 600 MHz band in metro and regional areas in 2000 and a large FWA network was deployed by Unwired in Sydney and Melbourne. In addition, NBN Co holds spectrum licenses in the bands 3 425 – 3 492.5 MHz and3 542.5 – 3 575MHz and has indicated an interest in deploying LTE in these bands in the future.Australia has licensed Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) in the band 3 575-3 700 MHz (3.6 GHz band) as described in Radiocommunications Assignment Licensing Instructions (RALI) FX19. The title of RALI FX19 is “Frequency Coordination and Licensing Procedures for Apparatus Licensed Broadband Wireless Access Services in the 1900 –1920, 2010 – 2025 and the 3575 – 3700 MHz Bands” and the latest version can be found at the following web site:

http://www.acma.gov.au/webwr/radcomm/frequency_planning/frequency_assignment/docs/rali%20fx19.pdf

This publication includes the following features for the 3.6 GHz band:

coordination procedures between BWA and FSS with a minimum cull distance as follows

band	minimum cull distance
o 3600 – 3670 MHz	200 km
o 3670 – 3700 MHz	150 km
o 3700 – 4200 MHz	100 km

in the band 3700 – 4200 MHz there is an exclusion zone of 20 km around FSS earth station (if guard band is 10 MHz or less);
simplified coordination if guard band is 10 MHz or greater;
earth stations operating in the 3700 – 4200 MHz range must use RF filters with a minimum performance equal to or greater than 15 dB below 3670 MHz.

Notes:
1) In Australia all FSS earth stations must be licensed (even TVROs). An FSS earth station cannot claim protection unless it is licensed. ACMA has a database of the locations of all legal FSS earth stations. Such a database is a prerequisite to effective coordination between BWA and FSS earth stations;
2) In general, major cities will not deploy BWA in the 3.6 GHz range;
3) For full coordination details and criteria refer to the above quoted RALI publication.

Present Situation

National position on 3.4 – 4.2 GHz band under WRC-15 agenda item 1.1:

3 400 – 3 600 MHz	3 600 – 3 700 MHz	3 700 – 4 200 MHz
IMT	IMT	NOC

Future Threats to C-band in Australia

ACMA has issued a discussion paper entitled: “Towards 2020 – Future spectrum requirements for mobile broadband”. This paper can be downloaded from:

http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_312514

Interference into FSS C-band Applications

There is no interference into licensed FSS earth stations.

Last updated: May 3, 2015

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