Mr. Chairman, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen - let me be the first to congratulate the new Chairman, Dr. Murakami and Vice Chairmen, Mr. Wakao and Mr. McManus on their election today. I have known Dr. Murakami through dealings associated with the TTC and GSC and, of course Mr. McManus through our contact in Australia. I met Mr. Wakao last night, and the overall impression I have is that the management of the PHS activities is in very good hands.
I am pleased and honoured to have been asked to address you on this important occasion of the General Meeting of the PHS MoU Group here in Sydney, Australia. My organisation, the Australian Communications Authority, applauds your efforts in bringing together this opportunity for discussions amongst key industry players. This, I am sure, will assist the realisation of innovative ways in which PHS can be used to deliver a wide range of telecommunications services.
The introduction of PHS in Australia has been largely limited in the private domain to wireless PABX applications, and has been successful, with around 110 of these systems being licensed by the ACA in the past 12 months. To date, this has required individual licensing of base stations because the radio spectrum used by PHS is also occupied by microwave fixed links which must be protected from interference.
The need for co-ordination with these fixed links is a significant issue which we are working to resolve in order that PHS can mature in the Australian telecommunications environment where we would see more public applications and requests for the use of spectrum. In this regard, we have been assisted enormously by the efforts of the Australian PHS Forum under the chairmanship of Mr. Brendan McManus of NEC.
What these efforts have led to is an Issues Paper which I am pleased to announce today. The paper aims to settle the ground rules and a cohesive strategy for digital cordless telecommunications services in Australia.
When you read the Issues Paper you will see that the ACA has worked hard to help you create opportunities for PHS. The paper explores the regulatory issues and barriers that indeed are relevant to the introduction of all forms of digital cordless telephone technologies.
A sense of fairness extends to all telecommunications and radiocommunications clients. In an ideal world there would be no spectrum constraints and any new product could find its way into the market without concern about its effect on other users of the spectrum. Unfortunately that is rarely the case and, for PHS, we must deal with long-established fixed services. Quite naturally, the operators of those services also expect the ACA to protect their interests. Just as PHS proponents will be given the opportunity to comment on the issues and advise the ACA, so will other affected spectrum users.
If the outcome of industry studies shows that the impact of residential type cordless systems on fixed links is minimal, then the most appropriate course of action will be to class licence residential CTS base stations, thus opening up much more commercially attractive applications. Indeed, the Issues Paper questions why this should not be the case.
A second principle embodied in the paper is that of generic treatment and a cohesive approach to CTS solutions and their evolution.
An issue the ACA needs to also consider is the role that PHS will have on the broader agenda, for instance with the future introduction in Australia of IMT 2000 - the ITU’s proposed third generation mobile telecommunications solution. This is an issue because the spectrum for these two schemes overlap. Your advice on this important issue would be most welcome. Dr. Murakami gave some insight into these future possibilities.
The ACA’s consultative approach, through the Issues Paper means that all parties will have been consulted and due consideration will have been given to the information provided to us. The outcome will inevitably be a compromise, but we expect it to be a fair and reasonable compromise and to be able to maximise opportunity for industry and long term benefits to the consumer.
We need to move ahead from where we are at present. We have enjoyed working with the Forum towards these ends, and we look forward to extending the horizons further still so that the full benefits of CTS are captured in the most advantageous way. We must work together to make this happen and today’s events offer a most constructive opportunity.