Telesat Canada, OneWeb Continue Clash With ViaSat Over Band Segmentation
Telesat Canada and OneWeb are locking horns with ViaSat over use of band segmentation to resolve inline events between non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite service systems. In an FCC docket 16-408 filing Thursday, the companies disagreed with ViaSat arguments in favor…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
of band segmentation. They said the fact band-splitting rule applies when there's no prior coordination agreement and requires real-time resolution of interference runs headlong into the unworkability of a real-time exchange of data. They said even if it weren't, that information would be commercially and customer sensitive. ViaSat emailed us Friday that the FCC "has developed a level playing field" for coordination between non-geostationary orbit systems, and "band splitting is the fall back mechanism to ensure good faith coordination." It said the framework "was adopted with a full understanding of Telesat and OneWeb’s desire for an ITU priority-based regime in which the satellite operators would control spectrum access. The Commission’s approach, based on long-standing policy, strikes the right balance and nothing in the current Telesat/OneWeb filing changes that. The Commission should affirm its previous decision and let the operators move on to system coordination and implementation." OneWeb petitioned the FCC to revisit the band-splitting portion of NGSO rules adopted last year (see 1801180060).