ESAA Allocation Change Gets Support from Satellite Companies, In-Flight Connectivity Community
Satellite companies and in-flight broadband and entertainment providers urged the FCC to approve rules granting earth stations aboard aircraft (ESAA) primary status as an application of the fixed satellite service in the Ku band. ViaSat, Boeing, the Satellite Industry Association and other entities supported the NPRM in comments due this week. The status change would put ESAA on equal footing with the earth stations on vessels (ESV) and vehicle-mounted earth stations (VMES) allocations, they said. The commenters also highlighted the FCC’s acknowledgment that ESAA networks operated in the conventional Ku band with no reported interference to other users.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
It has been demonstrated that ESAA technology and the ESAA rules are consistent with full primary status, SIA said in its comments (http://bit.ly/18lA2u3). In-flight broadband services using satellite have operated without incident for more than a decade “under substantially similar rules as the ones adopted by the commission in the ESAA order,” it said. The association urged the FCC to adopt the ESAA primary status allocation before it acts on an NPRM for a terrestrial-based air-ground mobile broadband service in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band, it said. The FCC launched the NPRM this month based on a Qualcomm proposal (CD May 10 p5). Fixed satellite service capacity in that band is heavily used for a variety of critical services, including ESAA operations, it said: “That protection of ESAA services cannot be guaranteed, however, as long as ESAA remains secondary in the earth-to-space direction."
ViaSat supports the commission’s proposal. As an operator of FSS very small aperture terminal and ESAA systems, ViaSat “appreciates the need to protect FSS systems and, at the same time, is uniquely aware of the ability of ESAA networks to operate without causing harmful interference,” it said (http://bit.ly/11ffQti). It agrees with the commission’s assessment that the technical rules for ESAAs “provide a sufficient basis for parity among Ku-band mobile applications and tentatively concluded that such rules support primary status for ESAAs in the 14.0-14.5 GHz uplink band.” ESAA “can never truly be on equal footing with ESV and VMES if ESAA operations were to remain subject to secondary status,” it said.
FCC action on ESAA primary status is significant, the Global VSAT Forum said. Commission leadership is especially important as U.S. companies “remain at the forefront of the development, manufacture and operation of ESAA systems,” GVF said (http://bit.ly/16VkpvW). The accelerated growth and streamlined regulatory process prompted by adoption of similar service rules worldwide “would strongly benefit the companies that provide these services, promoting continued investment and maintaining U.S. leadership in this growing industry,” it said. ESAA and more traditional FSS earth stations are subject “to essentially the same off-axis effective isotropic radiated power density limits and coordination processes ... and do not require any more interference protection than, the primary services already operating in the band,” it said. The FCC’s leadership has led to U.S. leadership in providing broadband aboard aircraft to airlines around the world, including Japan Airlines and Lufthansa, it said.
Gogo urged the FCC to specify that ESV, VMES and ESAA terminals are still authorized to communicate with geostationary FSS spacecraft on a primary basis in both the 11.7-12.2 GHz and 14.0-14.5 GHz bands. This change is supported by the technical framework for ESAAs adopted in the order, it said (http://bit.ly/16R4kqG). No alterations are needed in the ESAA regulatory regime “to accommodate primary status for ESAAs in the 14-14.5 GHz band,” it said. This month, Gogo, an in-flight connectivity provider, was granted a blanket license for ESAA terminals using Ku-band FSS capacity, it said. Row 44, also an in-flight broadband provider, also called for timely action on the proceeding. The existing service providers require certainty with regard to the future use and status of Ku-band ESAA “in order for the services offered to continue to grow and develop,” it said (http://bit.ly/121SV6C). The FCC also observed, in the context of adopting its initial ESV rules, that “inter-system coordination among FSS operators can be more readily accomplished if each service within the allocation is afforded primary status.” Panasonic Avionics, an in-flight entertainment developer, also pushed for primary status and regulatory parity for ESAA (http://bit.ly/130lIUq).
Granting primary status to ESAA “will ensure effective spectrum coordination and high quality service for ESAA and other services both primary and secondary,” Boeing said (http://bit.ly/16cjHKK). The reliability of primary status can expand current passenger services, reduce crew workload and benefit flight operations and the air transportation business, it said.