Clearing More Than 100 MHz of C-Band 'Order of Magnitude' Tougher, Intelsat CEO Says
Clearing more than 100 MHz of C-band for terrestrial use is feasible but "challenging," and will take substantial time, money and effort, Intelsat CEO Stephen Spengler said Thursday during a JPMorgan investor conference. Spectrum beyond that 100 MHz is "an…
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order of magnitude" more difficult than the first 100 MHz, he said, adding the company hasn't started assessment work for going beyond the 100 MHz it, SES and Intel are proposing. Spengler said Intelsat is calculating what the price tag might be for clearing part of the band and moving some customers higher on the band, with expenses including potentially relocating some earth stations. "I wouldn't put in the billions [of dollars] but it's a sizable effort," he said. He said a lot of major headends have fiber connections, but there are 5,000 to 6,000 remote sites where fiber isn't an option instead of using C-band, and Ku-band suffers from inferior performance characteristics and that there isn't capacity available to relocate all the video and radio distribution supported by C-band. Spengler said the FCC is indicating an NPRM on C-band could be coming this summer, as expected (see 1804200003), and a final order could come in the first half of 2019. Comcast, which expressed concerns about C-band clearing to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's office (see 1805110054), made similar presentations to aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Brendan Carr, said a docket 17-258 filing posted Thursday.