Satellite, Terrestrial Interests Joust Over Latest Spectrum Frontiers Draft
Grandfathered Earth stations and population caps are emerging as key issues for satellite operators as they push for changes in the FCC spectrum frontiers 2.0 draft. General satellite industry sentiment is that the latest draft (see 1710270030) is better for the industry than the original spectrum frontiers order, satellite insiders and officials told us. One big improvement was preserving 4 MHz of high-band spectrum for satellite use in the 48.2-50.2 GHz and 40-42 GHz bands, though not every company feels that's sufficient, said a satellite executive.
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Experts expect general commissioner consensus and potentially a 5-0 vote. A satellite executive said there's an expectation the draft order won't change substantially before the Nov. 16 meeting. But satellite operators likely won't limit themselves to trying to make changes before then on the edges of spectrum frontiers 2.0, the executive said.
The industry broadly hasn't been keen on the general direction of spectrum frontiers, and believes no amount of spectrum allocated to terrestrial will fix issues like rural connectivity that are best tackled by satellite, said a lawyer with satellite clients. The lawyer said industry still sees the latest draft order, while an improvement, as not going nearly far enough in protecting satellite spectrum interests.
The draft would loosen the cap somewhat on population limits in the 47 GHz band, allowing three fixed satellite service earth stations in each county and up to 15 in each partial economic area (PEA), but caps are superfluous given population density limits and transient population rules, said EchoStar Senior Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Jennifer Manner. Those geography-based caps also could have the perverse effect of driving Earth stations into less rural areas if the cap already has been met in a rural county or PEA, Manner said.
Satellite broadband companies Boeing, EchoStar, Intelsat, Inmarsat, OneWeb, SES/O3b and Telesat Canada, in recent meetings with eighth-floor staffers, also argued against counting the coverage of grandfathered earth stations in the 28 GHz band toward population calculations and for better definitions of transient population limits, said a docket 14-177 filing posted Wednesday. That's an issue the industry has pushed repeatedly (see 1710190036 and 1710030024).
Carriers disagree. The draft includes "unnecessary concessions" to satellite based on already-rejected arguments, Verizon said in docket 14-177 (see here, here and here), posted Tuesday, on meetings with commissioners' aides. The 4 GHz expands on a compromise in the original spectrum frontiers order that gave satellite "a windfall" in the form of interference zones around grandfathered and new 28 GHz earth stations, it said. Verizon bemoaned increasing protection zones and the number of Earth stations in the 39 GHz band, saying that will hurt 5G deployment. The company cited 5G as it resisted protection of earth stations in transient population areas.
Satellite broadband companies have begun pushing the FCC on a variety of draft order issues. SES/O3b in meetings with International and Wireless bureaus and Office of Engineering and Technology staffers urged adjustments to the numerical limits on earth stations per county or PEA and sought to not include grandfathered earth stations in the population limits set by the order, it wrote, posted Tuesday. Staff at the meetings included OET Chief Julius Knapp. ViaSat, in meetings with commissioners' staffers, generally supported the draft order, pushing for more flexibility in deployment of protected Earth stations, it recounted, posted Tuesday.