Part 25 Satellite Rules Order Released, Bolsters Re-Coordination Argument
The FCC Part 25 satellite rules order adopted 5-0 Wednesday (see 2011180043) reinforces the agency's argument for requiring earth station re-coordination with upper microwave flexible-use licensees (UMFUS), according to our side-by-side comparison of the draft and the final order released…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Thursday. Re-coordination is "an important check on potential warehousing," it said. "Requiring earth station operators to simply notify changes to UMFUS licensees would instead place the burden of those changes, and the risk of non-deployment of the earth station, on UMFUS operators," it said, calling re-coordination "a reasonable tradeoff." The FCC saw no reason to treat geostationary or non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite service earth stations differently under the rules. Regarding the part of the order obviating earth station operators from having to notify the FCC of minor modifications, the adopted version includes caveats with required notifications due to changes in antenna height and any increases or decreases in a station's power flux density contour. The draft directed the International Bureau to someday put out guidance on implementing a unified licensing framework. The approved order expands on that. It said the agency won't postpone the effectiveness of the unified license framework until after the explanatory public notice, since the practical experience the bureau gets in implementation will likely be useful in developing that guidance.