FWCC, Satellite Industry Set to Clash Over Earth Station Coordination Petition
The Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition expects, and the satellite industry agrees, the satellite community will launch numerous objections to and arguments against an FWCC petition asking for changes in earth station licensing rules (see 1610180035). The FWCC sees the petition as more evenhanded and flexible than what the group proposed in its 1999 push for conditions on fixed satellite service (FSS) earth stations, an FWCC lawyer said, but satellite interests see it as deja vu.
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Jan. 9 is the deadline for comments in RM-11778, said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice issued earlier this month.
Part of the impetus for the new petition is worsening congestion in the frequencies below 10 GHz, an FWCC lawyer said. FSS and fixed service (FS) share the 3.7-4.2 GHz and 5.925-6.425 GHz bands on a co-primary basis, as well as the 10.7-11.7 GHz and 12.7-13.25 GHz bands, according to the FWCC petition.
Also driving the petition is a change in FCC rules for microwave growth channels that came with a Wireless Bureau 2015 declaratory ruling, the FWCC lawyer said. That ruling, that an FS application is enough to show need for another FS licensee's growth channel, also should work when applied in an FS/FSS context, FWCC said in its petition.
A 1999 petition proposed limiting FSS earth stations to coordination for twice the spectrum they demonstrated that they actually need, but the new petition is more open ended, proposing they be allowed to coordinate for unlimited growth capacity. Fixed microwave operators who run out of options can coordinate on satellite frequencies as a last resort, and would have to consult with satellite earth station operators to find a channel in which to operate while causing the least disruption to the FSS licensee's plans, the FWCC lawyer said.
But the latest FWCC petition lacks any evidence to support it, said satellite industry officials. "We are all scratching our heads saying we haven't been approached by FS companies identifying a problem," said Satellite Industry Association President Tom Stroup, saying the petition didn't point to any data quantifying additional FS spectrum needs. The FCC, in terminating that proceeding in 2002, said the record lacked necessary information on how to provide more equitable sharing of spectrum (see 0201310012).
The new petition wouldn't fix that problem since it doesn't give any examples of problems necessitating the rule changes, said Karis Hastings of SatCom Law, who has satellite clients. That lack of evidence will be one of the key arguments the satellite industry makes when it responds -- especially since the incoming Republican FCC will likely be looking to minimize regulatory requirements on industries and the FWCC petition represents additional rules, Stroup said. The new petition also doesn't address the issue of different spectrum needs of FSS vs. FS, Hastings said.
Satellite earth station "full-band full-arc" coordination -- coordination across an entire frequency band and geostationary arc regardless of how much spectrum the earth stations plan to use -- leaves a lot of the shared FS/FSS spectrum unused, FWCC said in its latest petition. FS has to coordinate only the frequencies and azimuths it actually will use and has to start using them within 30 months of receiving its license, but FSS earth stations routinely coordinate all frequencies in the band and every azimuth and elevation angle aiming at its geosynchronous arc, FWCC said. That elbows out FS from access to a lot of frequencies and pointing directions, FWCC said.
There are business reasons for the different regulatory frameworks, but "you still have this perception it ... seems unfair," Hastings said. When FS operators want to put up a link, they don't want to have to negotiate with or be denied access by a satellite earth station operator, she said.