September 22, 2023 Solicitation for Opinions on Draft Ministerial Ordinance and Notices to Partially Amend the Regulations for Enforcement of the Radio Act and the Ordinance Regulating Radio Equipment and Report from the Radio Regulatory Council Institutional development for upgrading time-division multiple access (TDMA) broadband digital cordless telephone systems

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) solicited opinions from Friday, July 7 through Monday, August 7, 2023, on a draft ministerial ordinance and notices to partially amend the Regulations for Enforcement of the Radio Act and the Ordinance Regulating Radio Equipment.
As a result, two opinions were submitted, and MIC will make the opinions submitted and its views on those opinions public.
With consideration of the results of the solicitation for opinions, MIC sent an inquiry to the Radio Regulatory Council (chaired by SASASE Iwao, Professor Emeritus at Keio University) on the matters to be consulted based on the Radio Act (Act No. 131 of 1950) in the draft ministerial ordinance, etc. concerned. Today, MIC received a report stating that it is appropriate to adopt the draft as originally proposed.
MIC plans to promptly develop the relevant provisions, taking into account the results of the solicitation for opinions and the report from the Radio Regulatory Council.

1. Overview

Digital cordless telephone radio stations are radio stations that use the 1.9 GHz band and do not require licenses. They include the self-operated Personal Handy-phone System (PHS), the Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) system, and the Time Division Long Term Evolution (TD-LTE). Of the three systems, demand for the DECT and TD-LTE systems continues to grow.
On the other hand, all public PHS radio stations using the same bandwidth have terminated their services as of the end of March 2023.
In light of these circumstances, technical requirements for frequency sharing among different digital cordless phone systems and with existing radio stations have been discussed by the Land Radiocommunication Subcommittee to make more effective use of the 1.9 GHz band frequencies. On Thursday, May 25, 2023, MIC received a report from the Information and Communications Council (chaired by ENDO Nobuhiro, Executive Advisor of NEC Corporation).
In response to this report, MIC prepared the draft ministerial ordinance, etc., to partially amend the Regulations for Enforcement of the Radio Act and the Ordinance Regulating Radio Equipment for a frequency increase and bandwidth expansion of digital cordless phones with the DECT and TD-LTE systems and solicited opinions on the draft ministerial ordinance, etc.

2. Report from the Radio Regulatory Council

With consideration of the results of the solicitation for opinions, MIC consulted the Radio Regulatory Council on the matters to be consulted based on the Radio Act (Act No. 131 of 1950) in the draft ministerial ordinance, etc., to amend part of the Regulations for Enforcement of the Radio Act and Ordinance Regulating Radio Equipment. Today, MIC received the report stating that the draft is appropriate.

3. Future plans

MIC will promptly develop the relevant provisions based on the report from the Radio Regulatory Council and the results of the solicitation for opinions.

*The published materials are in Japanese only.