FCC Decision on C-Band Clearing Expected by Midyear, Intelsat CEO Says
An FCC order on opening the C band to terrestrial 5G services is likely to come by midyear, with the agency indicating it wants to see that happen in Q2, Intelsat CEO Stephen Spengler said during an analyst call Wednesday. He said the rival T-Mobile band-clearing plan isn't serious but seems designed specifically to slow down the band-clearing process for anti-competitive reasons -- probably related to the pending T-Mobile/Sprint merger and protecting their C-band position, Spengler said. But it's not clear if the FCC also sees it that way, he said. T-Mobile didn't comment.
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Spengler said the C-Band Alliance (CBA) has been in talks with "quite a few" interested parties about their spectrum needs and what band plans they would like to see. He said it's still being determined whether some of the 180 MHz the CBA proposes clearing for terrestrial use could be cleared more quickly.
The T-Mobile plan is unworkable, with technical flaws that would create "massive interference" between 5G and satellite since spectrum can't be cleared by partial economic areas (PEA), Spengler said. He said extending spectrum rights to thousands of earth station registrants (see 1902190067) goes against FCC statutory authority under the Communications Act and "would add a huge amount of complexity," resulting in "thousands of auctions." He said incumbent customers lack protection under the T-Mobile proposal and some inevitably would be evicted. While roughly 16,000 receiver locations have been registered with the FCC, those locations could have multiple antennas within them so the total number of C-band receivers is likely far higher, Intelsat said.
If the FCC adopts the CBA proposal, C-band commercial deals could be completed this calendar year, Spengler said. He said block sizes are being defined and may differ depending on the users, with some nationwide and some regional or PEA-based.
The CBA has been talking with equipment makers -- primarily Nokia and Ericsson -- about testing and verifying its approach for managing the guard band, Spengler said: Clearing costs would likely be $1 billion to $2 billion, including satellites to be launched and filters to be installed on downlink earth stations but not any opportunity costs or prior investments.
Asked about replacements to the 3.7-4.2 GHz band, Spengler said fiber to rural headends isn't feasible because of costs, while the Ku band lacks available capacity and is more prone to rain fade and atmospheric issues.
For 2018, Intelsat had $2.16 billion revenues, up by 0.6 percent. It said for 2019, it expects roughly a 3 percent revenue decline due to pricing pressures and some nonrenewals. Spengler said aside from the C band, company priorities for 2019 include stabilizing its core business, growing its managed services business through its high-throughput satellite fleet and more mobility services inroads. Intelsat stock closed at $24.06 on Wednesday up 11.29 percent.