MIC: 11, 15 and 18 GHz fixed links — selected English translation

Source: 電波法関係審査基準の一部を改正する訓令 (Instruction amending the Radio Act examination standards), 総務省訓令第８号, effective 14 March 2022, in the MIC amendment PDF published through e-Gov. Read 17 September 2026. Page references below give the PDF page followed by its printed page; both are one-based.

This translates selected bandwidth and frequency columns, headings and notes. It is not a translation of all 84 pages. In particular, antenna characteristics, receiver input levels, interference calculations, polarization columns and channel-assignment priority columns are omitted. The source is a comparison: 改正後 = after amendment; 改正前 = before amendment. The frequency tables on PDF pp.44–53 appear in the before-amendment column, in the section being deleted. They are historical source tables, not a claim that this PDF supplies the complete current rules. The replacement bandwidth table is separately translated below.

Transmission capacity and permitted occupied bandwidth

Before-amendment section 1(9), PDF pp.12–15 / printed pp.3–6. Selected columns from “main-signal transmission capacity and clock frequency” and “permitted occupied bandwidth, emission type and receiver input.”

Bandwidth note 2, PDF p.14 / printed p.5: When the centre frequency is 10.735 GHz or 11.665 GHz, the limit is 69.5 MHz or less. This note belongs to the 8PSK 156M row.

Translation terminology: 占有周波数帯幅の許容値 = permitted occupied bandwidth; 方式 = system/method; 低群 = low group; 高群 = high group. The source's 6M, 26M, 52M and 156M are parts of transmission-system names, not MHz bandwidth labels.

Assigned frequency arrangements and pairings

Before-amendment Appendix (9)-6, section 3: 割当周波数の配列、組合せ及び使用順位 — “Arrangements, combinations and order of use of assigned frequencies.” The tables below retain all frequency pairs in the selected arrangements. Frequencies remain in the source's GHz units. Values at the same position in the low and high lists are paired; the lists are not independent choices.

11 GHz, section 3(1)

Selected source notes:

• Select either channel-number family A or B for the transmit/receive frequencies of a link.
• Circled numbers indicate assignment order (those priority columns are omitted here).
• For 11 GHz, use the slot arrangement in principle; assign the normal arrangement only when the slot arrangement cannot be used.
• For 4PSK 6M, channels 4A/4B and 5A/5B are assigned only when other channels cannot be used.

The normal arrangement, (b)(b), on PDF pp.45–46 / printed pp.36–37:

Translator's note: the first high-group value is visually confirmed as 11.258 in the PDF. It is likely a transposition of 11.285 (the other ten pairs all have a 0.530 GHz separation), but the table above retains the printed value.

15 GHz, section 3(2)

Selected notes: select channel family A or B for a link; circled numbers indicate assignment order. Use the slot arrangement in principle, and the normal arrangement only when the slot arrangement cannot be used.

Mobile-network entrance/backhaul links, section 3(3)

PDF pp.48–51 / printed pp.39–42. The source scope is links between a fixed station connected to mobile switching equipment and one connected to a base station, or between fixed stations connected to base stations, including relays. For this subsection, both opposite stations in a hop use antennas of diameter 1.8 m or less, and the link is constructed using the assigned frequency combinations.

Selected notes: choose channel family A or B for each link. Circled numbers indicate order of use; the prescribed order need not be followed where interference conditions or similar circumstances make it difficult.

64QAM 156M, section 3(4)

Subsection (a), PDF p.51 / printed p.42: for the mobile switching/base-station links described in its heading, including relays, assign 18 GHz, then 15 GHz, then 11 GHz in principle.

Subsection (b), “Links other than those listed in (a),” PDF p.52 / printed p.43:

4PSK 25M, section 3(5)

PDF pp.52–53 / printed pp.43–44:

After-amendment bandwidth table

Section 4(5)-2(a), Table 1 適用伝送方式 — “Applicable transmission methods,” PDF p.54 / printed p.45, after-amendment column. The preceding sentence says examination is performed according to the combinations of permitted occupied bandwidth and standard modulation shown in this table.

The source marks notes 1–2 “omitted / same as left”; their full text is not reproduced alongside this replacement table. The separately translated 69.5 MHz endpoint note above is explicitly present in the historical table. The unchanged replacement appendices (5)-2-2 through (5)-2-8 are also omitted from this amendment PDF (p.84 / printed p.75).

2021 report: retained general conditions

Additional source: MIC, 11/15/18GHz帯固定通信システムの高度化に係る技術的条件, final advisory report, 25 May 2021. Selected translation of §3.1.1(1)–(4), printed p.34 / PDF p.37:

• Frequency bands: the frequency bands for 11/15/18 GHz fixed stations remain as specified by the existing provisions.
• Communication method: as in the existing provisions.
• Modulation method: as in the existing provisions.
• Information transmission rate: as in the existing provisions.

Table 2-12 note 6, printed p.33 / PDF p.36: For centre frequencies of 10.735 GHz or 11.665 GHz, the occupied bandwidth is 69.5 MHz. This also confirms the endpoint qualification translated above.

Public-service 18 GHz: source scope

Additional source: MIC's 2010 purpose-specific examination-criteria amendment, §2(13)(b), PDF pp.26–28. Selected translation of its scope:

Public-service fixed stations in the 18 GHz band: among the public-service fixed stations specified in Radio Equipment Regulations Article 58-2-9-2, this section is limited to those using frequencies above 17.82 through 17.85 GHz and above 18.57 through 18.6 GHz.

The equipment/frequency subsections and Tables (13)-1/-2 and Appendices (13)-1/-2 are marked omitted (略). This PDF does not reproduce their centre-frequency tables. This is a separate public-service transport allocation from the 17.85–17.97 / 18.60–18.72 GHz backhaul tables translated above.