C-Band Disagreements Continue as FCC Gets Midband Replies

T-Mobile said the band should be reallocated for wireless use, but the FCC shouldn’t be too specific in how it can be used. “Designating a band for a particular wireless use -- such as point-to-multipoint services -- would require the Commission to pick technology winners and losers,” T-Mobile said. “Designating spectrum for a specific application risks the Commission’s decision becoming almost immediately out of date.” Specifying how the band can be used would be contrary to the spectrum frontiers proceeding and the 3.5 GHz approach that “recognized the benefits of designating spectrum for flexible use,” the carrier said in docket 18-122.

Whatever the FCC does, it must protect the C-band, NAB said. “Virtually every American who listens to the radio or watches television relies on the ubiquitous, reliable coverage the C-band provides,” it noted. But Frontier, Windstream Services and Consolidated Communications said “expeditious” opening of the frequencies for rural fixed point-to-multipoint deployments is “entirely feasible, and the ability to deploy fixed wireless would provide another key tool in the toolbox to reach the hardest to serve rural Americans.”

Intelsat and SES again are asking for changes to the process of registering receive-only earth stations in the 3.7-4.2 GHz band. They said letting filers with multiple C-band stations file one Form 312 with an attachment listing the coordinates of each station -- and pay one registration fee -- would lead to more registrations, resulting in a better database of C-band satellite operations. They backed extending the registration window 60 more days. They are "gravely concerned" that without such accommodations, many earth station operators won't file 312s, citing an unnamed religious broadcaster with 3,700 unregistered earth stations facing $1.6 million in filing fees under the current registration rules regime. Intelsat, SES and others have been seeking changes to the C-band earth station registration procedures (see 1805300023).

Raytheon said the record indicates the FCC needs to move forward with caution. “As the comments of others make clear, there are a large number of registered and currently unregistered receive-only satellite earth stations in the 4 GHz Band reflecting the importance of this spectrum for a number of mission critical and other services, including audio and video content distribution,” Raytheon warned.

The Broadband Access Coalition reminded the FCC it proposed “specific and concrete rule changes that would enable the immediate introduction of [point-to-multipoint] fixed wireless broadband service into the 3.7-4.2 GHz band.” BAC said the “diverse nature of the thirty-plus members of the Coalition manifests strong support for the flexible use opportunities that adopting the proposals in the Petition would foster.”

The Wireless Innovation Forum said it's deeply involved in work on the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band, with more than 60 organizations involved in its 3.5 GHz work. “Some commenters have suggested that the state of spectrum sharing systems such as the Spectrum Access System (SAS) is untested and unproven,” the group said. “While we acknowledge that SASs have yet to be certified and deployed for commercial operation, we note that SAS commercialization is expected to be achieved by Q4 this year and several SASs are involved in trials.” The WInnForum said it's working on a report on spectrum sharing frameworks outside the band.