Aviation Industry Concerned That Disagreements May Slow Upper C-Band Auction: AIA Engineer
A few complicated issues must still be worked through before an upper C-band auction in the summer of 2027, said Tim White, a lead aviation industry engineer on the proposed auction, in a recent interview. “We’ve been on the record about where we are and where we need to go,” said White, vice president of engineering and technology at the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
White said many thought that the process before and after the lower C-band auction had to be improved. “There was a lack of coordination,” but that hasn’t been the case so far on the upper C band, he said. The aviation and wireless industries held a series of in-person, intensive, daylong meetings last year "really hammering out" what coexistence will look like.
White conceded that those intensive negotiations stopped after the FCC released its upper C-band NPRM in November (see 2511240048) but said talks should start again soon. The NPRM timelines were “super aggressive” and sent both sides to their “own corners.”
“We would all recognize that we have different equities -- if you give me this, it’s going to cost you guys money,” White said. There’s no consensus yet on reimbursing airlines for updating their radar altimeters to better accommodate cell signals, “but we’re working on it.” Any agreement has to be between the two industries and include the government, he added. The government “will have a part to play in saying yes.”
White said the aviation industry is still calculating total costs but has pegged them at between $4 billion and $7 billion, the figure filed as part of the FAA’s radar altimeter rulemaking (see 2603130051). “That’s a broad range -- we know it,” he said. “We’re working on getting a much better number.”
While reimbursements probably can’t come out of the auction proceeds, White said carriers would likely bid an amount that takes add-on costs into consideration. Carriers led by Verizon and AT&T bid $81.2 billion in the lower C-band auction and were on the hook for an extra $13 billion in accelerated clearing payments (see 2102180041).
Another difference between the industries is the technical issue of how safety calculations are made (see 2603160021).
If the aviation industry changes its approach to reflect wireless industry calculations, it would lengthen the process to get to an auction, White said. “If I’m going to change all of my assumptions on the safety analysis, it implies that I’m going to go back and test a bunch of things again.”
The two sides disagree on how to measure the strength of cellphone signals, White noted: The aviation industry is asking that measurements be made based on effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP), while the wireless industry wants to measure signal strength based on conducted emissions at the entry point to the antenna. The aviation industry believes that using EIRP will provide “maximum assurance” that everyone knows the maximum level that an antenna will put out at a given spectrum point, he said. If requirements are based on conducted emissions, “I need to go back and test every antenna to know what it is going to do,” as well as “every antenna in the future.”
White also said he’s hopeful that carriers will agree to extend voluntary commitments to protect the space around airports from lower C-band licensees beyond the January 2028 expiration date (see 2603130051). If that doesn't happen, reaching an agreement on the upper C band will take longer, he said. The airlines would have to figure out how to address lower C-band interference “while at the same time having to retrofit for the anticipated upper C band turn on.”
The FCC Wireless Bureau recently released a notice (see 2604100017) asking about a May 2020 petition for partial reconsideration filed by the AIA and others “with respect to technical issues” in the lower C band “that have also been raised in the Commission’s Upper C-band NPRM.”
The FCC appears to be trying to “ensure that whatever goes into [the] upper C band is the same thing that goes into [the] lower C band,” White said, adding that AIA will probably respond by noting the group’s arguments made in the FAA radar altimeter rulemaking. The bands should be the same as far as spurious emissions and testing, he said. “There should be no daylight between the … expectations” for the bands.
In addition, White said AIA expects “full alignment” between the FAA and FCC as they finalize their respective rulemaking proceedings, and it’s his “impression” that the agencies are coordinating closely.