Satellite, UMFUS Interests Clash on Earth Station Buildout Terms
Satellite interests continue to press the FCC to amend the Part 25 blanket satellite licensing order on November's agenda (see 2011050010). The draft's requirement of re-coordination of earth stations that haven't been built out within a year when they share…
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bands with upper microwave flexible-use service (UMFUS) "undermines ... certainty," EchoStar/Hughes, Viasat and Inmarsat said in a docket 18-314 posting Thursday. Coordination is "costly and time-consuming," and the FCC could instead ensure UMFUS operators have information about an earth station buildout beyond one year through a notice provision at least 60 days before bringing the earth station into operation, they said. Also arguing for draft order changes, representatives of the Satellite Industry Association, EchoStar/Hughes, Inmarsat, Amazon, SES, Iridium, Telesat, Boeing and Intelsat talked with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai and with International Bureau Chief Tom Sullivan. CTIA, in talks with a Pai aide, Sullivan and Commissioners Brendan Carr, Mike O'Rielly and Geoffrey Starks, opposed extending earth station buildouts beyond one year. The group said if the agency did, the re-coordination requirement "is imperative to limiting the potential chill on UMFUS buildout from earth stations that are authorized but never actually operational."