NTIA Official Sees Satellite Growth in Broadband, Emergency Communication
Satellite services and satellite spectrum policy’s importance are growing at NTIA and elsewhere because of rural satellite broadband deployment and emergency communications plans being reworked to include a satellite overlay, an NTIA official said Thurs. Speaking at a Washington Space Business Roundtable lunch, NTIA Acting Dir. John Kneuer said he’s “very bullish” about rural broadband deployment and sees it as an “enormous opportunity for satellite.” He also said NTIA is seeing satellite incorporated more and more in emergency planning post-Hurricane Katrina.
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Citing AT&T’s distribution deal with satellite broadband provider WildBlue, Kneuer said telcos and cable are realizing they can’t compete “everywhere in their markets” with terrestrial options alone. Firms are beginning to tap satellite broadband to fill in rural gaps, he said, predicting more such partnerships. “Satellite is increasingly the solution as we develop policies to promote rural broadband deployment,” Kneuer said. Rural broadband opportunities for satellite lie both in last-mile solutions and backhaul to the terrestrial Internet backbone, he said.
NTIA has seen more satellite advocacy and interest in satellite integration since Hurricane Katrina, Kneuer said. At the federal level, “a lot of thought and effort has gone into looking to satellite as a critical piece of a redundant, interoperable network,” he said. Satellite is being included in interoperability plans at the state and local level, and within NTIA and DHS, he said. But for interoperability efforts to be successful, they have to come from the states and localities, not the federal govt., he said. Some emergency communications plans NTIA has seen involve wireless Internet overlays to terrestrial networks, with a satellite component for further redundancy, he said.
Kneuer’s remarks mirrored Thurs. testimony by the Satellite Industry Assn. (SIA) at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Sen. Stevens’ (R-Alaska) telecom bill (see separate story). The 2 satellite-related provisions of the bill would: (1) Make satellite broadband equipment eligible for funding from USF. (2) Propose that satellite phones and other equipment be pre-positioned for first responders to use in emergencies. SIA Chair and Hughes Network Systems Asst. Vp-Regulatory & International Affairs Joslyn Read commended the provisions and urged the committee to continue to include satellite in telecom reform efforts.