Satellite Operators Lining Up in Opposition to MVDDS Petition
Satellite operators are launching opposition to using the 12.2-12.7 GHz spectrum for two-way mobile broadband, as sought by Dish Network and other multichannel video distribution and data service (MVDDS) spectrum licensees (see 1604260068). SES in an FCC filing Thursday in RM-11768 said it was "alarmed by the prospect that the sharing scenario ... painstakingly developed to permit MVDDS to operate without causing interference to satellite networks could be radically changed." OneWeb Vice President Kalpak Gude told us Thursday that arguments by the MVDDS 5G Coalition that other spectrum is available for its planned fixed satellite service (FSS) operations "reflects a misunderstanding of how satellites use spectrum. Our system very much needs the Ku spectrum at issue and our system was designed under the current rules. The MVDDS petition does not recognize the interest and investment in [non-geostationary satellite (NGSO)] networks, much less explain how they would share with [geostationary] systems."
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NGSOs have had authorization for 15 years to use the 12.2-12.7 GHz allocation, and without the same regulatory limits that were put on MVDDS licensees, one coalition member told us Thursday: "NGSOs have a lot of other really good spectrum. You can't have both." The coalition member also said NGSOs have spectrum options outside of 12.2-12.7 GHz, unlike the terrestrial broadband/satellite industry fight over 28 GHz sharing for 5G: "People in 28 GHz have no other alternative." The 12 GHz alternatives include 11.7-12.2 GHZ and 18.8-19.3 for downlinks and 14-14.5 GHz and 28.6-29.1 GHz for uplinks, the coalition said in a filing Wednesday in support of its petition.
The FCC allowed MVDDS in the band in 2002 only after restrictions limiting it to fixed, one-way service, and SES said the petition gives no grounds or technical details for taking a new look at MVDDS in the band. The company said that is especially since the original rulemaking that opened the door to one-way service "spanned several years, was highly controversial and attracted hundreds of filings." SES also referred to a Mitre study that pointed to interference dangers to DBS operations from MVDDS. While the coalition points to small cell deployment, "beamforming" and "beamsteering" as technologies that enable 12 GHz sharing capabilities in ways that weren't available before, "reciting technological buzzwords is not a satisfactory substitute for rigorous analysis of potential interference," SES said.
The MVDDS 5G Coalition petition would put at risk "the enormous potential for Ku-band [FSS] to connect the world with affordable and effective broadband Internet access," OneWeb said. It said the coalition is wrong about the spectrum being unused by NGSO, pointing to its planned constellation of 720 low earth orbit satellites that will use the 12.2-12.7 GHz band, saying it and the FCC know of other non-geostationary FSS systems "working to perfect their own ITU satellite network filings in this spectrum" and the agency likely will soon set a cut-off date for other NGSO FSS system filings in the band. SES said its SES-14 satellite set to launch in 2017 will use part of the spectrum for downlinks.
The coalition petition "comes at precisely the wrong time, given the ongoing active investment and technology developments in delivery of NGSO FSS service at 12.2-12.7 GHz," SpaceX said in a filing Wednesday, saying the ITU has received more than 35 filings for NGSO FSS operations in the allocation over the past 24 months. It said its own NGSO FSS broadband plans "will only be possible if the existing allocation and accompanying protections remain in full force and effect."
There is support for the FCC opening a formal rulemaking. The Common Carriers Association said in a filing Wednesday that current rules on the spectrum "render it unusable for mobile broadband, which means this valuable spectrum has languished for years." T-Mobile said it supports re-evaluating whether the band could be used for mobile broadband, but current MVDDS licensees shouldn't necessarily be granted new two-way terrestrial mobile broadband rights, since they have failed to provide any service using that spectrum. Instead, such rights should be available to all potential licensees, T-Mobile said in a filing Thursday. Of the 21 active MVDDS licensee, only one is apparently providing any service, T-Mobile said. "Yet these licensees ask the Commission to reward their failure to place the spectrum in operation."
New technologies justify re-examining MVDDS license rules, said Public Knowledge and New America's Open Technology Institute in joint comments Wednesday. Any expansion of exclusive use rights should come with requirements including use-or-share conditions in the service rules and the appropriate performance obligations and pro-competitive spectrum screen or cap policies that arise from the spectrum frontiers proceeding, they said.