Satellite Push for Changed Part 25 Draft Order May Not Succeed
Despite the satellite industry heavily lobbying the FCC on the required re-coordination of earth stations that haven't been built out within a year when they share bands with upper microwave flexible-use service (UMFUS) (see 2011050010), satellite interests told us the draft order to be voted on at commissioners' meeting Wednesday is likely unchanged from what was released. The industry could look at a petition for reconsideration next, we were told.
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Annual re-coordination is a huge issue because of the years it can take to site earth stations and do the buildout, a satellite regulatory official said. The FCC inquired about technical reports showing there wouldn't be interference from some modifications, and a recon petition backed by such reports could carry weight, she said.
Counsel for a satellite company active in the docket 18-314 proceeding said changing the agency's mind on earth station buildout terms was a high hurdle. The agency in ex parte meetings seemed sympathetic to satellite industry arguments, and some agency consideration could be given to SpaceX's push for a Further NPRM (see 2011130036), the lawyer said. The FCC didn't comment.
A party involved in the proceeding said re-coordination is seen as a compromise between what satellite and terrestrial interests each wanted. She said a 5-0 vote seems likely since it's not a polarizing or political issue.
Pointing to SpaceX concerns about how extending the buildout requirement could lead to a warehousing problem, Verizon said Monday that rather than a buildout period for non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) systems, the FCC should use waivers for operators who can show a need for more than a year. Any such waivers should be conditioned on the earth station operator's compliance with the re-coordination requirement, the carrier said. Geostationary orbit operators would continue to be under the draft order's re-coordination requirement, it said. Eliminating the re-coordination requirement for some “high-priority” earth station sites might tackle the NGSO warehousing problem but not fix the possible harms to UMFUS operations, Verizon said.
There's no evidence of warehousing danger, Viasat said. It said arguments against the satellite-pushed idea that satellite operators be required to notify UMFUS licensees of updated earth station plans instead of re-coordination "are unsubstantiated and unavailing." The company said there's no proof of harm to UMFUS licensees if an earth station buildout is extended, regardless of re-coordination.