Flexible Spectrum Use Could Be Boon to Satellite Industry, Pai Says
The wireless industry benefits from the FCC opting for flexible use over prescribing how particular bands are to be used, which could happen with satellite, Chairman Ajit Pai said Thursday at the Hudson Institute. He said the agency won't dictate…
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how satellite companies use spectrum, especially since companies often have very different ideas. He could foresee, decades from now, algorithms dynamically managing spectrum allocation, uses changing depending on time and location, "and getting people out of the process." Pai said allowing U.S. access to Galileo signals (see 1810240030) should bring "huge benefit for consumers" via more global navigation satellite system resiliency and reliability, plus industrial applications like precision agriculture. NASA is encouraged by the mushrooming of commercial low earth orbit operations, since the agency intends to shift increasingly to buying some services from commercial operators, said Tom Cremins, NASA associate administrator-strategy and plans. Cremins said the agency continues to push technology with commercial applications and noted 2019's launch of a laser communications relay demo. Pai saw much international interest at the ITU plenipotentiary conference last week in Dubai in what the U.S. is doing broadly to remove "regulatory underbrush." He said countries struggle with similar problems as the U.S. and sometimes come up with solutions the U.S. might incorporate.