Numerous countries with diverse sizes, geographical features, populations and demographics characterize Europe. From many highly advanced urban capitals to countless remote, rural or isolated communities, this comparatively small world region remains at the heart of policymaking, frequently driving trends in the rest of the world.
Europe has an important voice within the International Telecoms Union, not only because of the 28 votes of European Union Member States but also due to its being part of ITU Region 1, alongside Africa for example, which has fundamentally different geographic and economic characteristics. The two positions are formulated and captured within the CEPT and ATU respectively.
These differences are highlighted by the approach taken to C-Band spectrum on the two territories. While C-Band is literally a life-saving band relied on for millions of vital connections in Africa, it is less critical in Europe, where as a result, in 2008 the European Union decided to open part of the C-Band to broadband wireless access (mobile terrestrial). This trend was stopped at WRC-15 by the insistence of Africa and other important world regions on their reliance on the robustness of critical C-Band satellite signals for numerous applications for which mobile terrestrial offers no alternative.
In the run-up to WRC-19, Europe is championing specific frequency bands for 5G, notably the 26GHz range, one of the bands identified by WRC-15 for study for 5G/IMT. This approach ensures the protection on investments and innovation happening in core satellite bands such as the L-Band, the C-Band, the Ku-Band, the Ka-Band and the Q and V Bands.
