SpaceX and European MNOs Joust Over OOBE Waiver
SpaceX and European mobile network operators are at odds over the out-of-band emissions waiver SpaceX is seeking for its supplemental coverage from space service (see 2408130008). In a letter to the FCC Space Bureau this week, Vodafone, Orange, Liberty Global,…
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Telefonica, PPF, Telenor and United Group said they were "gravely concerned" about proposed lower safeguards protecting terrestrial MNOs from interference. They said the current aggregate out-of-band emission limit "represents the bare minimum level of protection that mobile network operators require from spurious emissions" in low- and mid-band spectrum. That current limit, they added, "should be regarded as a 'best case,'" as terrestrial MNOs could experience amplified interference when multiple competing direct-to-device satellite systems operate, or an individual D2D operator expands the number of satellites in orbit, prompting more coincident interference. In docket 23-135, SpaceX said the MNOs, all investors in rival D2D operator AST SpaceMobile, are on a "scorched-Earth campaign to hamstring" competition. They "provide zero technical support for their opposition" and don't address SpaceX and T-Mobile technical assessments showing adjacent-band terrestrial networks would be protected, SpaceX said. Nor do they provide any technical support for their "specious" best-case claims, it added. If the best-case claims are correct, SpaceX said, AST operations would cause far more interference to users than the protection level being demanded of SpaceX.