China Unicom have submitted a proposal to 3GPP RAN4 to standardize a new FDD E-UTRA operating band on 450MHz for ITU Region 3 (Asia Pacific). This will be addressed at RAN Plenary work group in March. Work item at the meeting are specified by TSG RAN75.

A copy of RP-170159 Work Item is available upon request.

1. Background
In the 23rd meeting of Working Party 5D (WP 5D) in February 2016, WP 5D agreed to start its study on revision of Recommendation ITU-R M.1036-5 “Frequency arrangements for implementation of the terrestrial component of International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) in the bands identified for IMT in the Radio Regulations (RR).”
The working document towards a preliminary draft revision of Recommendation ITU-R M.1036-5 is contained in the Attachment 4.2 to Document 5D/374.
In this contribution, China provides a proposal on the frequency arrangement in the frequency band 450-470MHz.

2. Discussion
The 450-470 MHz band is already allocated to the mobile service on a primary basis globally and was identified for IMT via foot note No. 5.286AA of the Radio Regulations (RR) at the 2007 World Radio communication Conference (WRC-07). This band is planned for the deployment of IMT systems in China.
The 450 MHz band is very suitable for the development of IMT network, especially in rural as well as suburban areas due to the advantageous propagation characteristics of the band. The coverage area of a 450 MHz base station is three times larger than a comparable 900 MHz base station and 12 times larger than base stations in the 1 800 MHz and 2 100 MHz bands, while with the same transmit power and propagation environment. This translates to lower investment requirements for infrastructure and lower operating costs for operators.

To maximize the spectrum efficiency of 450 MHz band, and satisfy the development demands of IMT network, the China administration has issued a new FDD arrangement for IMT in 450 470 MHz band.