Satellite Industry Split Over Ending NGSO Domestic Coverage Requirement
The satellite industry is at odds over the FCC-proposed elimination of the domestic coverage requirement for non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) fixed satellite service systems. Though there's not agreement, the agency still could move forward on some change since there's obviously need for a more flexible regime, said satellite industry lawyer Jeff Carlisle. An industry consultant said the deregulatory aspect of the NPRM could carry particular weight with the FCC. Also potentially trumping objections is the added flexibility NGSO operators would have to bring more satellite broadband connectivity at least to the lower 48 states, the consultant said.
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Satellite broadband coverage often can't cover all of a territory, backers of the final NPRM argued in docket 16-408 comments posted Wednesday. Replies are due Jan. 29. The NPRM was expected to face an uncertain reception from satellite operators and potentially also from Alaska interests (see 1711150029). The Satellite Industry Association didn't comment in the proceeding because there wasn't consensus, an industry official said.
Serving someplace like Barrows, Alaska, requires "significant tradeoffs" that can impair broadband service elsewhere, such as the equatorial region, Boeing said. It said even if the domestic coverage requirement is eliminated, there will be business and technical reasons that incentivize some NGSO operators to provide polar or near-polar coverage or, conversely, equatorial or lower-latitude coverage.
Though its NGSO constellation will provide near-global service, SpaceX said not all systems should be compelled to cover a specific territory regardless of its business model. It said the coverage requirement isn't needed given the existing and proposed satellite systems that together will provide connectivity nationwide.
SES/O3b -- which in 2015 received waiver of the domestic coverage requirement -- likened eliminating the domestic coverage requirement to the agency's previous elimination of the global coverage requirement, saying it too would end a potential hurdle to new NGSO service. Space Norway, which last year also got a waiver (see 1711030063), said the domestic coverage requirement isn't appropriate for satellite systems specifically designed to provide regional coverage.
But OneWeb, Intelsat and Hughes said the final NPRM contradicts the FCC’s oft-stated goal of expanding broadband access, particularly to rural communities. They said the agency should keep the rule but grant case-by-case waivers for systems that are focused on service for underserved areas and that eliminating the coverage requirement for mega-constellations would undermine broadband access goals.
The proposal is “a significant departure” from the policy objectives and statutory purpose for originally adopting the coverage requirement for NGSOs, the companies said. They said beyond “greater flexibility,” the final NPRM gives no rationale for removing the domestic coverage requirement and ignores that without it, the incentive to serve such rural and underserved areas “will be lost.”
Carlisle said keeping the domestic coverage requirement could be an attempt to maintain competitive barriers to entry. That's given the array of proposed broadband satellite services, which in their overlap would provide universal domestic coverage.