13th August 2001
Ref.: CL/M/ /01

Hon. Minister,

REVISION OF THE STOCKHOLM 61 (ST61) AND THE GENEVA 89 (GE89) REGIONAL AGREEMENTS FOR DIGITAL TERRESTRIAL TELEVISION BROADCASTING

I have the honour to refer to the ITU circular letter No. 129 of reference CEC/DS/eb dated 18/07/2001 on the subject "Planning of Terrestrial Broadcasting in the VHF and UHF Bands" addressed to all its Member States.

One of the objectives of the ATU enshrined in the Constitution (Cape Town, 1999) reads, " To co-ordinate the strategies and positions of Member States in preparation for and at international meetings".

At the moment the ITU is organising a series of consultations with its Member States in the African Broadcasting Area, the European Broadcasting area and Neighbouring Countries in order to establish planning area(s) of future Regional Radiocommunication Conference(s) (RRC). ITU Council identified the following six options:

a) Convening of a RRC for the European Broadcasting Area only, as specified in Resolution 1185 (Annex 1 to this Circular-letter);

b) Convening of a RRC for the same purposes as those set out in Resolution 1185 but for the planning area of the Geneva-1989 Agreement only;

c) Convening of a RRC for the same purposes as those set out in Resolution 1185 but for the combined planning areas of the ST61 and GE89 Agreements;

d) Convening of a RRC for the same purposes as those set out in Resolution 1185 but for a planning area extended beyond the European Broadcasting Area to neighbouring countries and territories that are not currently defined as part of the European Broadcasting Area. On a provisional basis, and subject to further additions, the Council included the following countries and territories in this list: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation (that part of the territory which lies outside the European Broadcasting Area), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.;

e) Convening of a RRC for the same purposes as those set out in Resolution 1185 but for a planning area extended beyond the planning area of the Geneva-1989 Agreement to neighbouring countries and territories not currently defined as part of the planning area of the Geneva-1989 Agreement;

f) Convening of a RRC for the same purposes as those set out in Resolution 1185 but for the combined planning areas of the ST61 and GE89 Agreements, suitably extended to neighbouring countries and territories that are not currently defined as part of the European Broadcasting Area or of the planning area of the Geneva-1989 Agreement. On a provisional basis, and subject to further additions, the Council included the following countries and territories in this list: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation (that part of the territory which lies outside the European Broadcasting Area), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

In the interest of Africa, the options that combine the African Broadcasting Area with the European Broadcasting Area are the best because of the following technical and economic reasons:

- The combination eliminates the need for frequency spectrum co-ordination between the two zones;
- The European Broadcasting Area is technologically more advanced and hence the countries in the African Broadcasting Area stand to gain if the two zones were in one planning area and hence undertake planning process in one combined conference.
- The cost of convening one conference for the combined areas is less than holding two conferences for the two planning areas and hence all Member States should take advantage of this fact.
- One planning area for the two zones does not create a precedence because already the two zones are in one planning area for the Geneva 84 FM Broadcasting Planning Area and that this arrangement was agreed upon by the countries of the two zones for their benefit.

In consideration of the above advantages, the best options for Africa are those that have the combination strategies namely c), e) and f) above. In this first ITU consultation the options given are d), e) and f) and hence the best option for Africa now is f). Therefore it is strongly recommended that all African Countries support option f). The deadline set for responding to the first consultation is 31st August 2001. In order to facilitate fast response to ITU by our African Administrations we attach a draft reply to the ITU with a copy to ATU.

The above position is the same taken by African Councillors (your authorised representatives) at the ITU Council Session this year and the ITU Secretariat is consulting you as a stakeholder Member State if you agree with this position.

The ITU circular letter No. 129 and its annexes are posted in ATU website (www.atu-uat.org). If you have not received the above circular letter from the ITU and in addition you cannot download it please contact us by fax/phone/e-mail as soon as possible so that we could send it to you by fax or e-mail.

We look forward to seeing that Africa has one voice on this subject and that we are settling for one combined planning area for the two zones.

Yours sincerely,
JAN MUTAI
Secretary General

 

DRAFT LETTER TO BE INCORPORATED IN THE ADMINISTRATION'S LETTERHEAD IN RESPONDING TO ITU CIRCULAR LETTER NO. 129 ON PLANNING OF TERRESTRIAL BROADCASTING IN THE VHF AND UHF BANDS

The Secretary General
International Telecommunication Union
Place des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 20
Fax: +41 22 730 5881
Tel: +41 22 730 5216
Attention: Mr. Dusan SCHUSTER,

Dear Sir,

PLANNING OF TERRESTRIAL BROADCSTING IN THE VHF AND UHF BANDS

Reference is made to your circular letter No. 129 of reference CEC/DS/eb dated 18/7/2001 in connection with the above subject.

As requested in item 4 of the above circular, …………………………, [Name of the Administration]

the Administration of ………………[Name of the country, Member State of the ITU, represented by the Administration] supports the option in item 2.6[ this is option f) of this letter]of the above circular letter that combines African and European Broadcasting Areas and Neighbouring Countries.

Kindly let us know the evaluation of your first consultation with Member States and furthermore send us your questionnnaire for the second consultation.

Yours faithfully,

………………………………………………………………………………………
(Name of the Chief Executive Officer of the Administration)

………………………………………………..
(Signature of the CEO)
………………………………………………..
(Official Title and Stamp)
……………………………………………….
(Date)

Copy to: Secretary General
African Telecommunication Union,
P O Box 35282
Nairobi, Kenya
Fax: +254 2 219445
Tel: +254 2 216678
E-mail: sg@atu-uat.org
Attention: Mr. Gideon L Mwakatobe

NOTE 1: Use Administration's letter head
Note 2: Delete the text in square brackets [ ]
NOTE 3: Delete the text in the text box with the following phrase "DRAFT LETTER… THE VHF AND UHF"