New ESIM Rules Seen Lighting Fuse for More Satellite Services
The FCC earth stations in motion rules harmonization and Further NPRM about additional frequencies for communication with geostationary satellites approved last month (see 1809260029) could help juice up satellite broadband applications and the vehicular ESIM market, experts said at an FCBA event Thursday. Inmarsat Regulatory Director Giselle Creeser said the land ESIM market has been quieter than aeronautical and maritime applications, but services including autonomous trains and long-haul trucks are likely coming up.
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ESIM tech also could play a role in cars, such as vehicle operational information and mapping, once the technology is mature enough for broad deployment, Creeser said. ESIM tech for cars and for other applications is essentially the same, but the competitive environment for autonomous cars is very different than for aeronautical or maritime applications, said Brennan Price, EchoStar senior principal engineer-regulatory affairs. Satellite could find a business opportunity in autonomous car operation in remote areas, he said. International Bureau Satellite Division Chief Jose Albuquerque said autonomous driving might not be a good application for satellite, and others such as data downloads to vehicles are a better fit.
The order put into rule form Ka-band approvals the FCC already had been making using waivers, Albuquerque said. It also was aimed at the substantial repetition in four separate sections of Part 25 rules, he said. The different rules for those services, often running parallel on the same networks, was "good for lawyers but not so good for companies," said Boeing Frequency Management Director Audrey Allison. Experts said the rules create the regulatory certainty that could lead to more investment. Creeser said eliminating the streamlining of some requirements, such as log-keeping rules, also means a notable cost savings for operators.
With satellite operators putting up high-throughput Ka-band assets into orbit, it's "only natural" that they seek to extend service into land and sea applications, though it's a tougher sharing environment than the Ku-band, said Allison. The regulatory move put the U.S. "out in front" of ESIM rules as the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference nears, Creeser said. An FCC committee advising on the conference also got comments Thursday (see 1810180055).
ITU is struggling in some ways with ESIM issues, Allison said. She said the WRC-15 agenda item about fixed satellite service support to drones resulted in "a very convoluted compromise" with numerous conditions. Albuquerque said the U.S. years ago at ITU proposed a generic satellite system regulatory framework, but that idea went nowhere and now it seems more likely that proposed tweaks to rules stand a better chance of success than big overhauls.
On whether there will be similar ESIM rules for NGSOs, Albuquerque said, "Stay tuned, we're working on that." Canada has an agenda item for WRC-2019 that NGSO ESIM frequencies be studied for 2023, Creeser said.
Price said the proceeding opened the door to ESIM services via the Ka-band, and operators in the future almost surely will go beyond that band in such services. He said the shift from mechanical pointing to electrical pointing requirements for ESIMs sets a path for new technology used terrestrially that could be adopted by satellite and give more feasibility in delivering broadband via satellite.