The FCC is seemingly confident the C-band band transition plan cost estimates due Friday won't be inflated. Eutelsat warned about possible abuse of relocation funding (see 2005150028) and Director-Regulatory Affairs and Spectrum Wladimir Bocquet told us some cost estimate ranges in the FCC's draft cost catalog were considerably high, particularly for launches and replacement satellites. Cable interests are asking for more time to review the satellite transition plans.
Matt Daneman
Matt Daneman, Senior Editor, covers pay TV, cable broadband, satellite, and video issues and the Federal Communications Commission for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications in 2015 after more than 15 years at the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, where he covered business among other issues. He also was a correspondent for USA Today. You can follow Daneman on Twitter: @mdaneman
FCC approval of Ligado's proposed L-band ancillary terrestrial component service is filled with holes, and so is the company's opposition to petitions for reconsideration or clarification (see 2006020016), petitioners said in docket 11-109 filings Tuesday. The FCC is supposed to coordinate with, not just consult with, NTIA and other agencies on a mobile satellite service license change under ancillary terrestrial component authorization in the L band, NTIA said. It and the FCC are co-regulators of the band and that requires “careful coordination,” particularly in areas of national defense and life service safety, said NTIA: Ligado and the FCC are wrongly assuming federal agency opposition is based on Ligado’s initial higher power proposal instead of the available data and analyses done by NTIA’s Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee Technical Focus Group. Under the Administrative Procedure Act, the FCC should have launched an NPRM about allowing an independent or stand-alone terrestrial service in the MSS L band, the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation said. The commission also needs a service rules proceeding to address such issues as rules of use for terrestrial mobile service allocation, RNTF said. Aviation interests said Ligado’s oppositions often don't respond directly to the petitioners’ arguments and mischaracterize the record. The Ligado decision relies in part on FAA analysis the FAA acknowledges wasn't definitive, they said. The Air Line Pilots Association International said the order didn’t properly address concerns applicable to certified aviation receivers and the FCC did an incomplete analysis of risks to airline operations. Ligado’s arguments against the petitions don’t deal with the sizable evidence that public interest claims were significantly overstated or that Ligado would cause harmful interference with aeronautical mobile satellite (route) service, said Iridium, Aireon, Flyht Aerospace and Skytrac Systems. They said the approval wrongly uses out-of-band emissions limits set in 2005, when vastly fewer mobile devices were in the U.S. The order has an “unprecedented” complaint reporting process that lets the interfering party decide whether a complaint it gets is credible before it takes action, Lockheed Martin said. “Limited and dismissive analysis of the 1 dB standard and harmful interference” isn’t the kind of review the agency is supposed to take, it said. The FCC isn't required to do a cost-benefit analysis of the order, but not doing so “demonstrates the Commission’s lack of reasoned decision-making and justifies reconsideration,” it said. Trimble said the commission needed a notice and comment rulemaking proceeding. The RTCA Tactical Operations Committee submitted an analysis outlining remaining concerns in the aeronautical community about Ligado's planned use of standoff cylinders to define where GPS receivers might see interference.
Alleged robocall businesses Rising Eagle Capital and JSquared Telecom and principals of the companies were subject Tuesday to the largest fine in FCC history -- $225 million -- and litigation brought by seven states alleging Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) violations. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said the fine proposal -- approved unanimously by the commissioners -- "represents a major win" for commission efforts to partner with the telecom industry on robocall issues. USTelecom's Industry Traceback Group traced the calls coming from the firms and passed that information on to the Enforcement Bureau, he said. USTelecom didn't comment. The FCC said the fine is for an estimated 1 billion spoofed robocalls made in the first four-plus months of 2019 by the health insurance telemarketers. It said the calls purported to be from such insurers as Aetna, BlueCross BlueShield, Cigna and UnitedHealth Group but were on behalf of unaffiliated insurer clients of Rising Eagle and JSquared. It said people on the Do Not Call registry were particularly targeted. Chairman Ajit Pai said at least one of the companies that Rising Eagle and JSquared falsely claimed to represent was sued multiple times because its number was spoofed. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said the fine "sounds right [for] fraud on an enormous scale" but criticized the DOJ for its largely fruitless efforts in recent years collecting FCC-levied fines. Echoing her, Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said it's also difficult to get information from the Enforcement Bureau on collections efforts. DOJ and EB didn't comment. The states' litigation (docket 20-cv-02021) brought Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Houston makes allegations similar to those the FCC investigated and says the companies also would make robocalls trying to sell automobile extended service warranties. The suit asks for damages of $1,500 for each willful TCPA violation or $500 for each unknowing violation, plus a permanent enjoinder. It alleges 328 million robocalls made to seven states during the first four-plus months of 2019. Suing are the state attorneys general of Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas. John Spiller, allegedly a principal of the companies and named in the states' suits, told us he was unaware of any possible fine, that he and fellow defendant Jakob Mears were unaware of an FCC investigation, and he denied the commission's robocall allegations.
Balance Group opposition to SpaceX's ask to operate non-geostationary orbit satellites at lower altitudes than currently approved (see 2004200003) is really a Trojan horse for it to air its grievances with FCC processes for adopting policies Balance doesn't like, SpaceX said in an International Bureau filing Monday, urging dismissal of Balance's opposition. Balance said the SpaceX-requested modification calls into question "the project’s core propositional integrity and planning." It said "critical information" needs to be added to the record, including information about national security, environmental impact, the existence of suitable insurance and indemnification and permissions from other federal agencies that have subject matter jurisdiction. Viasat said SpaceX's orbital debris modeling seems to be based on an outdated version of NASA's debris assessment software and proprietary software, and it should be ordered to use the most-recent version of DAS before its application goes on public notice. SpaceX didn't comment Tuesday.
Working remotely will remain mandatory for FCC employees at least through June, and a voluntary option at least through the end of August, Chief of Staff Matthew Berry told us last week. Since results of mandatory telework during the pandemic have been generally favorable, longer-term the commission "almost certainly" will be more liberal in telework policies, he said.
Mandatory collision risk insurance and independent "space sustainability" ratings are among options for incentivizing satellite operators to make sure their satellites de-orbit within 25 years of mission completion, said space debris experts Thursday in an Aerospace Corp. webinar. Rebecca Reesman, Aerospace project engineer, said other possible incentives include a de-orbit credit trading regime somewhat akin to carbon credits, government-mandated regulations and industry-created norms. Dan Oltrogge, director of AGI's Center for Space Standards and Innovation, said the FCC's April orbital debris rules update and NPRM (see 2004230040) largely fits with what industry is trying to accomplish. Reesman said compliance with the international 25-year guideline is "not great," and needs to improve, especially with the expected slew of mega constellations. Oltrogge said governmental and private sector tracking of objects and debris in orbit is capturing only about 4% of things above a centimeter in size, but tracking capabilities are improving so the public catalog of tracked debris in five years will be 10 times what it is today. There also will be a tenfold increase in satellites in orbit over the next decade, he said.
The U.S. C-band auction appears on track for a December start, but other auctions globally are being delayed by COVID-19, satellite spectrum officials said in a webinar Thursday. There will be mobile interest in parts of the C band for international mobile telecom (IMT) at the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference, but the big spectrum struggle could be between the mobile industry and broadcasters, said ITU Space Services Department Chief Alexandre Vallet. Mohaned Juwad, Intelsat senior manager-spectrum policy, said French and Czech Republic C-band auctions are delayed and auctions in Austria, Portugal and elsewhere could become behind schedule. He said those changes, atop disruptions to the mobile handset supply chain and particularly from China, could mean 5G progress gets slowed. Whether delays affect bid prices, “Who knows?” said Ethan Lavan, Eutelsat orbital resources director. Inmarsat Spectrum Regulation Director Paul Deedman said added time for C-band auctions could give the satellite industry a temporary respite from moving earth stations. UHF spectrum for IMT will be a huge focus of 2023 WRC, said Vallet. While quite important for broadcasters, the band is ideal for improving mobile network coverage, he said. Vallet said parts of the C band for IMT use also will be a focus of WRC-2023. Juwad said regulators have somewhat recognized a lot of spectrum is available for IMT and there's a need to get justification before allocation. ITU is early in organizing for WRC-2023 so the pandemic timing shouldn’t significantly disrupt the planning cycle, said Vallet. The next 24 months “will be challenging, no doubt,” for the satellite-provided in-flight connectivity market for satellite, Juwad said. Contracts are delayed, not canceled, he said, saying demand for uplink traffic will increase once the market rebounds.
The FCC Wireless Bureau is seeking comment on the preliminary lump sum categories and payment amounts for fixed satellite service (FSS) incumbent earth station operators in the C-band transition, said a public notice Thursday. Comments will be due seven days after Federal Register publication. Telesat in a docket 18-122 posting Thursday said delaying the C-band transition plan deadline could have "collateral consequences" such as hindering the work to be done by the relocation coordinator. It said what the FCC has said about reimbursable costs "still [needs] to be fleshed out" but is enough for putting together a transition plan by the June 12 deadline. NCTA said the FCC needs to make sure MVPDs and content companies have a voice in encoding and modulation decisions and transition implementation. It said the cost catalog should be amended to reflect such decisions aren't satellite operators' alone.
Calls for the FCC to reconsider its approval of Ligado's terrestrial L-band network plans (see 2005280005) got backers and opponents in docket 11-109 postings Tuesday. Deere doesn't object to Ligado's terrestrial L-band network under the technical parameters laid out in the FCC approval, but contended the commission wrongly characterized it as endorsing the plan. It said it backed petitions for reconsideration of the approval that would substitute the 1 dB standard of GPS interference protection instead of "the impracticable 'performance-based' metric" the FCC went with. The recon petitions don't bring up new evidence that would justify reconsideration, Ligado consultant Roberson and Associates said. The various recon arguments -- including that 1 dB standard is more appropriate and that the GPS compatibility tests don't show GPS devices can operate without harm -- lack factual basis and are contrary to evidence presented in the order, it said. The Brattle Group, also a Ligado consultant, said the FCC “appropriately weighed the benefits and costs” of the license modifications. “The 23 MHz guard band, reduced power levels, and other conditions imposed on Ligado’s ATC network operations will drive down the potential cost of allowing low-power terrestrial deployment nearly to zero, as there appear to be limited interference concerns,” Brattle said: “Any potential remaining costs decline with time as they are mitigated and the stock of GPS devices turns over.” Aviation consultant JHW Unmanned Solutions countered arguments the modifications pose a threat to air safety. The FCC’s order “appropriately accepted the analyses of the Federal Aviation Administration, the expert Federal agency on issues regarding potential interference with aviation GPS devices and, more broadly, aviation safety,” the firm said: "Petitioners advance no legitimate challenge to the Order’s comprehensive analysis of these issues nor do they provide any new information.” Backers and opponents of Ligado's terrestrial wireless plans "seem to be talking past each other," with each side seemingly convinced it's in the right and puzzled by the opposition, the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation blogged Monday, citing letters from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to House Armed Services Committee members (see 2005270045). The problem is "fundamental disconnects" in interpreting data, and there should be an independent expert evaluation of test results and a cost-benefit analysis, it said. Ligado said the FCC "fully consulted" with NTIA, considered its views and correctly rejected the proposed 1 dB standard, evaluating harmful interference by measuring actual performance.
All satellite operators in the C band signed on to the accelerated, incentivized timeline for clearing it, the FCC said Monday, as expected (see 2005260037). “The acceptance of accelerated relocation by all eligible satellite operators vindicates the FCC’s approach for making C-band spectrum available for 5G more quickly," Chairman Ajit Pai said. "Our initiative will enable this critical mid-band spectrum to be used for new and innovative wireless services that will be delivered to American consumers years ahead of schedule." The elections by Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat, Telesat and Claro together represent relocation payments exceeding the 80% threshold established by the FCC, thus triggering accelerated clearing, said a Wireless Bureau public notice. Under February's C-band order, transition plans and estimated costs are due June 12.