Proposed ESIM Rules Premature, Iridium Says
Letting earth stations in motion (ESIM) operate in the same frequencies as non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) mobile satellite service (MSS) feeder links is premature, Iridium said in a docket 17-95 FCC filing posted Thursday. It said the satellite industry has been…
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unable -- despite years of effort -- to determine whether earth stations in constant and unpredictable motion around an NGSO MSS earth station would cause feeder-link interference for NGSO mega constellations. So the proposed ESIM rules (see 1705180042) would put networks like Iridium's at risk, the company said. At best, the result would be big exclusion zones blocking ESIMs from operating in shared spectrum and questions how such zones could even be enforced, it said. Authorizing ESIMs in the 29.25-29.3 GHz band -- where NGSO MSS operators have co-primary rights but that is being considered for ESIM use -- "would be a fool's errand," Iridium said.