SES/Intelsat Say C-Band Consortium Could Free Up 100 MHz for Terrestrial Use
The joint SES/Intelsat plan for clearing roughly 100 MHz of the C-band downlink spectrum would create a consortium of C-band satellite operators to make available a specified portion of the downlink spectrum for terrestrial mobile service through secondary market agreements…
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on a market-by-market basis, the companies told a variety of FCC aides and staffers, according to a docket 17-183 ex parte filing posted Monday. The companies said their plan -- building on a joint Intelsat/Intel plan for the C-band (see 1710020047) -- would have the consortium negotiate secondary market agreements (SMAs) with prospective terrestrial mobile service providers that would then apply to the FCC for a coordinated mobile license authorizing the provision of the mobile service in that market area and spectrum block. The consortium would clear incumbent users and contractually relinquish primary protection in the part of the band covered by the SMAs. The companies said the coordinated mobile licenses would have a renewable term length of 10 years. They said the FCC would need to put forth rules adding a co-primary allocation to the table of allocations for terrestrial mobile service in the C-band downlink spectrum, footnoted to allow such SMA use, and remove primary status protection for C-band operators in the areas included in the coordinated mobile license. The meetings were with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Brendan Carr, Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn, and staffers from the International and Wireless bureaus, Office of Engineering and Technology and Office of Strategic Planning. Satellite experts see SES signing onto the Intelsat/Intel plan raises the likelihood of it getting commissioner support (see 1802090016).