O3b Pushes FCC on FSS Earth Station Siting Rules
Siting preconditions on fixed satellite service earth stations should mean no further FSS/upper microwave flexible (UMFU) use coordination should be required, O3b said in an FCC filing posted Tuesday in docket 14-177. Siting criteria also should ensure a station can…
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go wherever criteria are met, and that once built it can operate without facing subsequent risks of modification or shutdown, the satellite company said, saying allowing at least one FSS earth station site per county is necessary "although several sites would be more reasonable and likely to facilitate deployment of broadband to unserved and underserved areas." O3b said deployment of earth stations only to areas that don't cover more than 10 percent of the population of a census tract, "while extremely constraining, would permit a limited number of new O3b sites" and would ensure non-geostationary orbit sites would end up in relatively unpopulated areas. O3b also challenged UMFU proposals that satellite operators get spectrum access via auction or negotiation, saying that "simply makes UMFU licensees gatekeepers to satellite services, especially if FSS is not given co-primary status."