OneWeb Facing NGSO Opposition to Expanded V-Band Plans
OneWeb's request to increase the size of its proposed V-band constellation and add spectrum segments outside the V-band (see 1801050002) is facing opposition from multiple rival satellite operators. Meanwhile, pointing to International Bureau Filing System (IBFS) technical problems, OneWeb is asking the FCC to extend until Aug. 27 the comments deadlines on its V-band petition and on a separate request to greatly expand its non-geostationary (NGSO) satellite constellation granted U.S. market access in June (see 1803200002). In its petition for a time extension Tuesday, OneWeb said it has received via U.S. mail filings that aren't reflected in the IBFS. The FCC didn't comment Wednesday.
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OneWeb's actions "have all the hallmarks of regulatory gamesmanship and spectrum warehousing," and OneWeb arguments that changes in FCC milestone rules resulted in the amendment are baseless, SES/O3b said in a petition to deny Monday. They said at minimum the FCC should reject treating the requested amendment as if they had been timely filed as part of the now-closed NGSO processing rounds. That amendment "would dramatically shift the sharing environment" in current processing round bands and thus qualifies as a major amendment so the underlying V-band application should be treated as newly filed and not part of the V-band NGSO processing round, they said. They also said the FCC needs to tackle various policy issues before allowing satellite applications in the 70 and 80 GHz bands.
The 1,280 additional medium earth orbit (MEO) V-band satellites OneWeb wants to add and the additional spectrum use greatly ratchets up the risk for interference to other NGSO systems, SpaceX said, urging denial of the proposed amendment or deferral to later NGSO processing rounds. It said the amendment violates FCC rules about one party having more than one application or authorized but not built NGSO system in a particular frequency band. It said OneWeb's V-band MEO plans can't be considered part of the Ku-/Ka-band low earth orbit (LEO) system already authorized by the FCC since there's no MEO component in the latter. And it said rather than an amendment, OneWeb could seek to modify its existing Ku-/Ka-band authorization in a later processing round to add MEO satellites and more frequencies.
The FCC's Ka-band plan allows use of parts of the band for an NGSO mobile satellite service system, not a fixed satellite service system like OneWeb proposes, Iridium said in its petition. It also said OneWeb's proposed NGSO MSS feeder link use would be outside the U.S. and the company never explains what U.S. public interest would be served by granting the amendment. It also argued OneWeb's petition needs to be removed from the current processing round.
Defending OneWeb's proposed use of the 70 and 80 GHz bands, Elefante Group said as long as it operates a small number of gateway earth station terminals in remote U.S. locations -- there shouldn't be any compatibility problems with stratospheric-based communication systems in those same bands.
Not all satellite operators are in opposition. Boeing, in consolidated comments last week about both OneWeb requests, backed both on the condition that other NGSO operators with pending applications not be required to protect the additional OneWeb satellites and that the FCC consider forcing OneWeb to operate its 18 proposed additional LEO satellites at the same nominal orbital altitude.