The FCC shouldn’t grant Qualcomm’s request for a rulemaking to...

for commercial, government and military applications and ATG operations could alter the “operating environment that has otherwise fostered competition and technological innovation,” said SIA. Existing and planned terrestrial and satellite-based systems meet current and expected demand for ATG in-flight communications, making unnecessary a lengthy and complex proceeding, said SIA. Qualcomm’s petition doesn’t provide an adequate basis to consider interference with existing and future use of the band, said Boeing in its comments (http://xrl.us/bme8w7). The potential impact could be far worse than described in the petition, said Boeing. For example, the petition assumes uniformity in satellite receive beams without considering the increasingly common focused spot beams in high population areas, Boeing said. The FCC should also finalize the regulatory status of aeronautical mobile satellite services (AMSS) in the same band before considering non-satellite uses, Boeing said. “The creation of a secondary terrestrial service in the Ku-band could have substantial adverse impacts on broadband satellite services provided to aircraft, which could not be remedied adequately pursuant to a secondary or non-interference/non-protected regulatory designation,” the company said. Boeing has long sought FCC designation for Ku-band AMSS as a primary application, similar to the rules for vehicle mounted earth stations and earth station on vessels.