The open door to a third GPS system was one of many outcomes of a meeting that also grappled with spectrum allocation for future cellular and television broadcast networks.

After tough negotiations among the 2000 delegates from 150 countries, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), under whose auspices the WRC is held every four years, hailed the meeting a success after landmark decisions on:

spectrum allocation for 3G mobile networks, giving the industry the green light to deploy networks with confidence;

a new broadcasting satellite plan for Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific, agreed during the last hours of the conference, which clears the way for a network that can deliver direct satellite TV signals to a growing customer base;

allocation of spectrum for a high density fixed service that will provide wireless point-to-point and point-to-multipoint technologies ranging from fixed wireless access to high speed broadband wireless;

agreement on the conditions under which the next wave of non-geostationary satellites are allowed to operate that will protect the efficiency of existing geostationary satellites.

Making available spectrum for the European global positioning system Galileo, to work alongside but independent from the US GPS and Russia's Glonass network.

The deal ironed out for 3G provides for a further 160MHz of spectrum in the 2.5 to 2.7GHz band in Europe and Africa, as from 2005. And as anticipated, the decision provides for three common bands, available on a global basis, so regions can implement their own versions of the terrestrial component of the IMT 2000.

Despite the degree of harmonization reached for global 3G standards, the United States will not be using the same bands, so dual-mode terminals and roaming still will be required.

Officials say consensus was only reached when the demands of some delegates were met that the frequencies allocated to 3G could be used for other services.—John Walko is an editor with Electronics Times, EETimes' sister publication in the U.K.