The Meeting of the South Asian Telecommunication Regulators’ Council (SATRC) Working Group on Spectrum (WG SPEC)

19 – 21 September 2023, Colombo, Sri Lanka 

Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) organized the Meeting of the SATRC Working Group on Spectrum from 19 to 21 September 2023 in Colombo, Sri Lanka with physical attendance as well as virtual/online participation through Zoom meeting platform (i.e. hybrid meeting). The meeting was hosted by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL). It was attended by 30 delegates including the enlisted experts of this Working Group from 9 SATRC Members and 4 Affiliate Members of APT. This meeting was organized as a part of the activities of SATRC Action Plan Phase VIII (SAP-VIII) which was adopted by the 22nd Meeting of SATRC (SATRC-22) in 2021. It was the second and final meeting of the WG SPEC for SAP-VIII. 

The meeting discussed in-detail and finalized the following draft SATRC Reports: 

  1. Approaches to Spectrum Harmonisation for 5G in SATRC Countries 
  1. Evaluation of Spectrum Utilization in SATRC Member Countries 
  1. Regulatory Approaches for Sharing, Trading and Leasing of Spectrum 
  1. Cross-border Coordination for Interference in SATRC Countries 
  1. Development of Spectrum Management Infrastructure, Procedure and Tools 

  

The meeting also discussed and finalized the following proposals of new Work Items for SATRC Action Plan Phase IX (SAP-IX): 

  1. Spectrum Approaches and Regulatory Requirements for NGSO Satellite Constellations for Space-based Communication Services 
  1. Current Practices of Licensing and Spectrum Assignment in Land Mobile Radio Systems particularly in VHF and UHF Person-to-Person Voice Communication System in SATRC Countries 
  1. Spectrum Approaches and Regulatory Requirements to Enable Satellite-IMT Integration 
  1. Spectrum Outlook in SATRC Countries 
  1. Registration of Frequency Assignments in MIFR by SATRC Countries 
  1. Backhaul Infrastructure Readiness and Requirements for 5G Deployment in SATRC Countries 
  1. Efficient Valuation and Pricing of Spectrum in SATRC Countries 

The above-mentioned draft SATRC Reports and the proposals of new Work Items for SAP-IX will be considered by the 24th Meeting SATRC (SATRC-24) scheduled to be held from 3 to 5 October in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 

Based on the decisions of SATRC-24, WG SPEC will resume their activities for SAP-IX in early 2024.