CBRS

The satellite industry faces tough fights ahead to protect the C band from reallocation for mobile services uses, industry executives said Thursday during a Washington Space Business Roundtable event. The FCC is looking at a portion of the C band -- 3550 MHz-3650 MHz -- for spectrum sharing purposes and is considering possible revisions to the rules for its proposed Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) that would govern sharing between incumbent satellite and federal users of the spectrum and new entrants to the band. Delegates to the ITU-run World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), set for Nov. 2-27 in Geneva, will consider a proposal from the international wireless industry seeking an even larger reallocation of the C band for mobile services, which the satellite industry opposes (see 1411130041).

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler still appears to have final rules for the 3.5 GHz shared spectrum band on the fast track for approval this year, agency officials said. But industry and agency officials questioned whether the commission will be able to address complaints of carriers and others in such a short time frame. The FCC has said the band could be used for what it calls a citizens broadband radio service (CBRS).

Most major wireless parties continued to urge the FCC to revise the rules it proposed for a new Citizens Broadband Radio Service on the 3.5 GHz band. Replies said the major faults of the rulemaking continue to be the proposed exclusion zones and the three-tiered spectrum access system (SAS) licensing framework. The comments, posted Friday and Monday in docket 12-354, repeated concerns that parties raised in July (CD July 16 p4). Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Ajit Pai had also raised concerns about the size of the proposed exclusion zones, in which spectrum use would be restricted to protect government incumbents, when the commission approved the FNPRM in April (CD April 24 p4).