MSS OPERATORS ASK FCC TO DISMISS WIRELESS PETITIONS AGAINST ATC

Boeing said that the Commission already had rejected a proposal to impose arbitrary limits on spectrum capacity used for ATC as “spectrally inefficient.” The company said that ideally, 100% of assigned spectrum would be used for satellite-delivered MSS service and terrestrial base stations would be used only “in those locations where satellite signals cannot penetrate, or where traffic demands overwhelm the satellite beam.” Globalstar said the proposal didn’t make sense because imposition of such a standard wouldn’t allow an operator “to determine dynamically the optimal mix of ATC and MSS spectrum allocations… Following the massive power outage in the Northeast and Midwest U.S. and Canada, the number of calls served by Globalstar jumped to almost 3 times compared with the previous day, and the minutes of use almost doubled. The optimal MSS-ATC mix on the previous day August 13 -- ostensibly a ‘normal’ day -- and on August 14 would clearly have been different.”

Wireless petitions also recommended that systems be required to “look for the satellite first,” another inefficient use of spectrum, Globalstar said. The Commission already has mandated that operators implement their systems before receiving ATC authority that dictates “use and marketing of the satellite system without imposing a requirement to use satellite capacity.” Globalstar said a “look for the satellite first” system never would allow an operator to direct calls to ATC base stations, forcing them “to deny service to users rather than allowing them to use the terrestrial base stations to complete their calls.” Looking for a satellite connection first also would increase connection time, the company said, and “would be a perceived negative result for subscribers as well as an actual negative result for emergency calls.”

Globalstar and ICO both commented on Cingular and CTIA proposals to include computers, laptops and PDAs in the Commission’s integrated service requirement. ICO said: “This exemption reflects an understanding that PDAs, laptops and other computers provide for more innovative spectrum use and are distinct from the more traditional mobile handsets used primarily, if not solely, for voice communications… [The] request… is an anticompetitive attempt to employ unnecessary regulations to render ATC useless and hinder deployment of innovative, broadband capable devices offering a wide array of services.” ICO said a Cingular proposal to auction ATC licenses was simply wrong: “Granting MSS licensees additional flexible use of their assigned spectrum does not unjustly enrich them any more so than granting additional spectrum rights for other wireless licensees. Rather it facilitates full and efficient use of MSS spectrum, bolsters the commercial viability of MSS and extends the benefits of global MSS to rural and underserved areas.”

Inmarsat and Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) each criticized the other’s petitions for reconsideration. Inmarsat’s proposals are unjustified, MSV said, in particular its citing the self-interference impact ATC would have on MSV, but restrictions imposed by the Commission in the L-band should focus on the “intersystem impact on Inmarsat satellites” instead. Inmarsat’s opposition did address the impact on its own satellites, saying that an increase in the U.S. from 1,725 co-frequency ATC base station carrier reuses on a 200 kHz channel to 3,450 reuses “would result in a greater amount of interference into both MSV’s and Inmarsat’s satellites than permitted” in the FCC’s order. “Moreover, the Commission’s reuse limit appropriately recognizes that ATC may be authorized outside the U.S. and that Inmarsat would need to be able to accommodate aggregate ATC interference from such countries,” Inmarsat said. MSV said data Inmarsat provided to the FCC “purports to show” that MSV’s proposed ATC base stations would overload Inmarsat user terminals: “In fact, the data pertaining to the Inmarsat land-based terminal has nothing to do with overload and is otherwise deficient.” Inmarsat countered that MSV’s analysis also was flawed and the agency should recalculate protection levels for the mobile terminals based on Inmarsat’s 2 independent reports.

Separately, NAB and MSTV told the FCC that its reallocation plan for the 2 GHz band would create substantial interference to broadcast stations in “top 30 markets where such markets are located adjacent to markets outside the top 30 markets.” They said the recent electricity blackout was a good example of an emergency situation that necessitated pictures from broadcasters “to quickly allay American’s concerns that terrorism was involved… Under the Commission’s proposed 2 GHz reallocation scheme, this sort of rapid delivery of vital emergency information via [broadcast auxiliary services] will be impossible.”