Satellite Interests Back Bid for FCC Satellite Rulemaking
Lockheed Martin, the Satellite Industry Assn., Hispasat and a slew of federal agencies are urging the FCC to alter its rules on operation of federal earth stations with commercial satellites. The pleas for “parity” in FCC satellite rules back NTIA’s recent call for a rulemaking on the matter. U.S. users including the White House, FEMA, DoD and DoJ said they rely on commercial satellites, but under FCC rules must do so on a secondary, noninterference/nonprotected basis. After a decade-plus of discussions with the Commission, NTIA formally petitioned the FCC for rules changes in Aug. (RM 11341). Supporters commented last week.
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Under FCC rules, a federal earth station is subject to immediate shutdown if it causes interference to a state, local, commercial or academic satellite or earth station. The rules discourage agencies from using commercial satellites, despite pressure on federal agencies from Congress to use commercial systems as much as possible, NTIA said.
NTIA/FCC discussions on the allocation status of federal earth stations communicating with nonfederal satellites date to the 1990s, NTIA said. “But I'd be surprised if NTIA hasn’t wanted this since the 1970s,” a satellite official said. The latest formal queries came in 2004 - from DHS, DoD, DoJ, Federal Aviation Administration and the National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration.
The Dept. of Homeland Security told the FCC it worries about FEMA use of 2 large govt.-owned earth stations and many vehicle-mounted and portable FSS earth stations tapping commercial FSS satellites. “We urgently need to upgrade their regulatory status to ensure protection from harmful radio frequency interference,” DHS said in 2004. Similarly, DoJ said it put a lot of money into the FBI Trilogy project, a network connecting 56 field offices via govt.-owned FSS earth stations linked to commercial FSS space networks. The FBI fears its FSS assignments “have no regulatory status to protect them form interference form FCC licensees,” DoJ said. NOAA relies on commercial satellites for the National Weather Service, it said.
The FCC may have put off a rulemaking for fear that equal treatment could be exploited, a source said. “If you allow parity, then the government can say it’s stepping in on behalf of national security and cause interference to commercial operations or shut them down completely. The Commission wants to be able to say ‘no’ to that,” the source said.
DoD “isn’t seeking any preemption capability over non- government terrestrial or satellite operations, but is only seeking equal regulatory status with non-Government operations,” it said. “To be clear, the Federal agencies are not seeking any rights that are not afforded to similarly situated non-federal entities,” NTIA said: “The agencies only seek the same rights and obligations that are afforded non- federal earth station licensees when they access commercial satellites.” NTIA sought a rulemaking to amend the National Table of Frequency Allocations to permit primary status for federal earth stations using commercial satellites in 3600- 4200, 5850-6725, 10700-12200, 12700-13240, 13750-14500, 18300-19300, 19700-20200, 27500-30000, 37500-39500 and 47200- 50200 MHz.
Lockheed Martin fully backs NTIA as a satellite builder, supplier and integrator of commercial satellite capacity, it said. “Federal users in the United States are recognizing the critical role that satellite capacity can play in ensuring redundancy in and the reliability of their communications capabilities, whether in response to national and homeland security issues in the Post-9/11 environment or in response to natural disasters and emergencies such as Hurricane Katrina,” Lockheed Martin said: “Simply put, maintaining the regulatory distinction among customers/users -- Federal and non-Federal (state, local, commercial or academic) -- of commercial satellite systems no longer can serve the public interest.”
Allowing govt. earth stations co-primary access will help federal agencies and commercial satellite operators, NTIA told the FCC. But no U.S. Fixed Satellite Services operators filed comments backing NTIA. Sources we spoke to said that may stem from historic satellite capacity procurement problems between FSS operators and federal agencies. Commercial satellite operators want govt. customers to lock in long-term satellite contracts, like media and telecom customers, while govt. agencies want the same support and interference protection those customers get. “There’s been an ongoing stalemate on this issue,” a source said. The 30-day comment period ended last week.