Satellite Industry Devises Strategy for Preserving Spectrum Ahead of WRC-15
The satellite industry will need to highlight its global impact and role in advancing communications and efficient use of spectrum at the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15) next year, said WRC officials and satellite executives Tuesday at the Satellite 2014 conference in Washington. Participants are firming up their positions as they prepare to compete with terrestrial interests for spectrum, they said.
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The climate at WRC-15 will be different from WRC-7, said David Hartshorn, secretary general of Global VSAT Forum. Since 2007, technology has evolved and WiMAX is losing ground, he said. In the wireless industry, LTE and small cells “are being pushed forward” and that industry “claims to have massive spectrum requirements,” he said.
The proliferation of wireless services has driven this change in spectrum use, said Phillip Spector, a satellite lawyer at Milbank Tweed. “That change creates a whole different environment around the debate this time.” The expansion of wireless applications was just on the horizon in 2007, he said. “The satellite industry is more ready than we were last time.”
The FCC and NTIA are working with the State Department on proposals for WRC-15 issues, said Alexander Roytblat, WRC director at the FCC. The commission and NTIA have advisory committees that develop recommendations, he said. “Sometimes, the recommendations are conflicting and they have to be reconciled.” The WRC advisory committee for the FCC has a number of proposals for the conference that will be discussed next week, he said.
Operations in the C band will be high on the agenda for the satellite industry, said the executives. There are exciting services in C band, said Gerry Oberst, SES senior vice president-global regulatory and governmental strategy. Satellite has an incredibly critical role in the overall telecom ecosystem, he said. “That word needs to get out.” The key user groups that depend on C band understand what’s at stake, Hartshorn said. Global VSAT Forum will make an effort to work with the WiMAX and small-cell industries to demonstrate that satellite is an enabling technology for wireless, he said. There seems to be an understanding among regulators and industry professionals that while there’s a great interest in mobile broadband, “the same people think it’s important to maintain delivery of service from satellites over C band,” said Ethan Lavan, Eutelsat director of In-Orbit Resources.
The discussion at WRC-15 must reflect the collaboration between the satellite and wireless industries, said Gonzalo de Dios, Intelsat assistant general counsel. “There is a lot of synergy between wireless and satellite.” As an industry, “we sometimes maybe don’t do a good job of making people understand the synergies that exist there,” he said. De Dios cautioned against taking a domestic approach to developing networks. A satellite network is global, and “it encompasses a tremendous amount of territory,” he said. Focusing only on national use will result in broken models, he added.