Satellite companies and manufacturers urged the FCC to adopt...

allocation for fixed satellite services is limited to earth stations only and that the FCC “has exclusive regulatory jurisdiction over these co-primary allocations ... with NTIA responsible for assignments for federal earth stations that are authorized to operate in these bands,” the SIA said in its comments in docket 13-115 (http://bit.ly/1dHC7pp). There’s no need for change to the spectrum allocations used to support space launches, it said. The association’s launch service providers “are satisfied with access to spectrum for launch services pursuant to special temporary authority as the frequencies have been traditionally specified by the federal launch ranges,” SIA said. EchoStar also urged the FCC to require federal earth station operators “to follow the same rules that govern non-federal earth station licensees, including licensing, coordination, interference protection, technical and ex parte requirements,” it said (http://bit.ly/1dQqIV8). Boeing urged the FCC to increase interference protection for federal earth stations “as long as the chosen approach provides adequate assurances to non-federal users,” it said (http://bit.ly/1fzH0NT). Because such an allocation approach may increase uncertainty over who’s the regulator of the satellite systems operating in these bands, “it may be preferable to avoid the regulatory status questions raised by a co-primary allocation altogether and instead proceed under the proposed interference protection approach via a footnote to the allocation table,” it said. The commission also should avoid limiting the ability of non-federal launches to use the same frequencies as federal launches, “because many launch systems need to support both federal and non-federal missions without costly redesign or replacement of communications hardware,” Boeing said. Lockheed Martin supported SIA’s concern with respect to determining whether a given launch is federal or non-federal for purposes of launch spectrum licensing. The FCC “should avoid inconsistency on this well-settled matter by continuing to follow the FAA’s [Federal Aviation Administration] practice, such that only launches that require FAA licenses are deemed ‘commercial,'” it said (http://bit.ly/17vaYgW).