Satellite/5G Sharing of 28 GHz Band Seen as Inevitable
Satellite operators inevitably will have to cede some of the 28 GHz band to 5G applications, and the key question is how best to do that, industry speakers said Tuesday at an FCBA CLE. "The first step is to accept these terrestrial services … are important and they'll get spectrum," said communications lawyer Scott Blake Harris of Harris Wiltshire, saying a majority of FCC commissioners seem committed to allocating some of the band to 5G. So industry priorities have to focus instead on "how to work this process … to have space to flourish," he said. "You have to look at spectrum sharing," he said. "'No' is not an acceptable answer."
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Satellite has a 5G role in providing backhaul and mobility services, and the industry has to make the case that coexistence with terrestrial wireless is doable, said Karis Hastings of SatCom Law. That coexistence "is a solvable problem," said Jack Wengryniuk, AT&T Entertainment senior director-spectrum management and regulatory affairs. "The problem is, who's going to blink first. Both sides have to give something." Spectrum access problems in general have meant large parts of the U.S. satellite industry pursuing licensing overseas over the past 10-plus years, said John Janka of Latham and Watkins, whose clients include satellite companies. Eventually, few bands will end up exclusive to one particular application, meaning "the satellite guys are going to have to fit in around some terrestrial uses," Janka said: "And the reverse might be true," with the balancing of those competing needs being a major challenge facing the FCC.
One thing hurting the satellite universe is its role as an established technology with a track record, Harris said. "The challenge for the new systems is … to recreate the spark Teledesic did," Harris said. "Satellite services [are] not new, not exciting anymore," and regulators making decisions on issues like the FCC's spectrum future "want to do something new and exciting," he said. The satellite industry shoots itself in the foot if it resists spectrum use for terrestrial services or drones, he said. Multiple speakers disagreed with Harris, pointing to increased investment as proof it's still capturing public and investor excitement. Janka said the industry "feels like a bubble right now. ... As exciting as it is to have real-time imagery of how many cats crossed my driveway in the last 24 hours, I don't know who's going to pay for that." Numerous speakers said commercial issues, such as capital requirements, are a bigger hurdle for the satellite industry than regulatory issues.
As the satellite industry increasingly moves into aeronautical and maritime mobility applications, "the next frontier" is providing those services in the Ka-band, with the FCC and ITU needing to address rules in that area, Hastings said. The FCC is working on a trio of rulemakings on satellite rules, including addressing Ka-band mobility matters, said Chief Jose Albuquerque of the International Bureau Satellite Division. It's working on streamlining earth station rules, perhaps with an eye on the ITU's earth station in motion approach, and on technical rules for nongeostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) constellations, he said.
Given growth in the NGSO field, governments need to look at orbital debris issues, said Kalpak Gude, OneWeb vice president-legal regulatory. NASA guidelines requiring deorbiting in 25 years are "ridiculous" since many small satellites have lifespans a fraction of that, he said. Small satellite and NGSO matters "are not an FCC issue, a U.S. government issue," Gude said. "It has to be an international issue."
The satellite industry also is facing debris issues since the Defense Department has indicated it wants to get out of being responsible for monitoring and warning of possible satellite collisions, because most of the traffic is commercial, said Satellite Industry Association President Tom Stroup. Whoever takes over that role needs to be guaranteed the resources and expertise to fill that job, he said.
NGSO constellations will be one of the major satellite regulatory matters for years, because their heavy spectrum use across many satellites calls into question the FCC approach of dividing spectrum among different constellations in processing rounds and a dynamic sharing approach might be needed instead, said lawyer Joe Godles of Goldberg Godles, which says it has satellite and technology clients. The size of those constellations also means regulators will have to look not only at overlapping frequencies but also overlapping orbits, Godles said. Bruce Olcott of Jones Day, whose clients include satellite companies, said the FCC should adopt a three-principle approach to NGSO regulation: protect incumbent operations, ensure adequate orbital debris plans, and require acknowledgement that sharing will happen among other NGSO systems. With those steps in place, letting NGSOs proceed on a first-come first-served basis will help speed up and smooth the path for launching, Olcott said. "Do away with the processing round, we might avoid the bubble."
Given the opportunistic launch approach of many small satellite companies -- grabbing space on any available rocket -- knowing launch dates and even orbits is problematic, said Trey Hanbury of Hogan Lovells, who has worked on a variety of satellite issues. The FCC should adopt flexible use licensing, he said. "A lot of these [small satellite industry] folks would do well in any country," Hanbury said. "They will move. We have got to have rules that are flexible enough to accommodate them."
Regulations and licensing also will have to catch up with the coming wave of low-earth orbit to geosynchronous orbit communications between satellites, said Jennifer Hindin, chairwoman of Wiley Rein's satellite group. "We don't have a regime for that."