Cable and direct broadcast satellite interests are locking horns over FY 2018 regulatory fees, echoing what has become an annual fight since the FCC instituted DBS regulatory fees in 2015 (see 1507080013, 1607060023 and 1706230027). Docket 18-175 comments were due Thursday and mostly posted Friday, with replies July 6. An FCC staffer said the International Bureau likely is still digesting the comments and there haven't been wide discussions on the eighth floor about how the agency might view cable or DBS arguments about the FY 2018 regulatory proposal. Small satellite regulatory fees also are coming under fire from commercial and academic interests, and there's jousting about a tiered international bearer circuits (IBC) fee structure.
The satellite industry globally had revenue of $268.6 billion last year, its third straight year of low-single-digit percentage growth, and the U.S. share at $113 billion marked a third year of similar growth, the Satellite Industry Association's reported Wednesday. Bryce Space and Technology prepared the report. SIA said of the 1,738 satellites in orbit as of year's end, commercial communications accounted for 31 percent and earth observation another 29 percent, by far the biggest categories. It said 345 commercially procured satellites were launched last year, more than double the 126 in 2016, with cubesat traffic driving most of that. Bryce Senior Program Manager Anton Dolgopolov said cubesat traffic likely would be similar this year, as long as launch availability doesn't get constricted. The eight total geostationary orbit satellite orders of 2017 are "a disproportionately low year" and could be an anomaly since there have been eight orders so far in 2018, said Bryce CEO Carissa Christensen. Roughly half of those 345 were earth observation satellites, SIA said. Christensen said venture capital funding of smallsats gravitated toward earth observation first, and now those constellations are starting to be deployed while communications smallsats are in the planning and development stages. 2017 was the second year of double-digit revenue growth for earth observation, and the completion of some constellations should mean an even higher growth rate this year, SIA President Tom Stroup said. Satellite broadband revenue rose 4 percent and subscribers gained 5 percent to roughly 2 million, SIA said. Stroup said the industry has been constricted on capacity, but recent launches of high-throughput satellites by ViaSat and EchoStar should allow bigger satellite broadband subscriber growth this year. U.S. operators had notable revenue drops in DBS and growth in managed services, SIA said. It said the average price per kilogram for launch dropped 40 percent from 2016, due to cheaper SpaceX launches and fewer expensive United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket launches than in 2016. The Russian launch industry continues to lose market share as reliability concerns scare off potential customers, along with a deliberate pull back on commercial activity and a focus more on supporting the Russian national space program, said Dolgopolov. SIA said launch industry revenue fell 16 percent to $4.6 billion, and the U.S. had the largest share of commercially procured launch revenue at 39 percent.
The satellite industry globally had revenue of $268.6 billion last year, its third straight year of low-single-digit percentage growth, and the U.S. share at $113 billion marked a third year of similar growth, the Satellite Industry Association's reported Wednesday. Bryce Space and Technology prepared the report. SIA said of the 1,738 satellites in orbit as of year's end, commercial communications accounted for 31 percent and earth observation another 29 percent, by far the biggest categories. It said 345 commercially procured satellites were launched last year, more than double the 126 in 2016, with cubesat traffic driving most of that. Bryce Senior Program Manager Anton Dolgopolov said cubesat traffic likely would be similar this year, as long as launch availability doesn't get constricted. The eight total geostationary orbit satellite orders of 2017 are "a disproportionately low year" and could be an anomaly since there have been eight orders so far in 2018, said Bryce CEO Carissa Christensen. Roughly half of those 345 were earth observation satellites, SIA said. Christensen said venture capital funding of smallsats gravitated toward earth observation first, and now those constellations are starting to be deployed while communications smallsats are in the planning and development stages. 2017 was the second year of double-digit revenue growth for earth observation, and the completion of some constellations should mean an even higher growth rate this year, SIA President Tom Stroup said. Satellite broadband revenue rose 4 percent and subscribers gained 5 percent to roughly 2 million, SIA said. Stroup said the industry has been constricted on capacity, but recent launches of high-throughput satellites by ViaSat and EchoStar should allow bigger satellite broadband subscriber growth this year. U.S. operators had notable revenue drops in DBS and growth in managed services, SIA said. It said the average price per kilogram for launch dropped 40 percent from 2016, due to cheaper SpaceX launches and fewer expensive United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket launches than in 2016. The Russian launch industry continues to lose market share as reliability concerns scare off potential customers, along with a deliberate pull back on commercial activity and a focus more on supporting the Russian national space program, said Dolgopolov. SIA said launch industry revenue fell 16 percent to $4.6 billion, and the U.S. had the largest share of commercially procured launch revenue at 39 percent.
Sharing the C band now used by satellite operators and by broadcast and other programmers sending content using it could be tricky, many stakeholders agree. Where they differ is on whether it should be repurposed or shared or mainly left as-is. True to predictions and comments posted through Thursday, even newer filings reveal differences between carriers on one hand and current users on the other (see 1805310058), a docket 18-122 review shows. A couple dozen filings were posted Friday, from tech companies, carriers, equipment makers, cable and content interests plus other industries.
One of the biggest issues in the FCC small satellites authorization streamlining rulemaking might be its definition of a smallsat, experts said at an FCBA event Thursday. The requirement that smallsats above a certain orbit have collision avoidance capabilities also could face pushback, said Spire counsel George John. Development of such propulsion technology for smallsats is still "getting there," he said.
President Donald Trump signed a commercial space policy directive Thursday that includes having federal agencies craft a report for the White House on bettering the nation's global competitiveness for space radio frequency spectrum policies, regulation and activities at the ITU and other multilateral forums. The directive said the Transportation Department is to put out a new regulatory system for launch and re-entry activity by "targeting an industry that is undergoing incredible transformation with regulations that have failed to keep up." It said the DOT secretary will consider requiring a single license for all types of commercial space flight launch and re-entry operations "and replacing prescriptive requirements in the process with performance-based criteria." It also said the Commerce Department secretary should review commercial remote sensing regulations for consistency with the directive’s policy and address non-conforming regulations. It gives the commerce secretary 30 days to craft a plan for a "one-stop shop" within the agency for administering and regulating commercial space flight activities. And it ordered the National Space Council to review export licensing regulations affecting commercial space flight activity and deliver recommendations to the White House within 180 days. Satellite Industry Association President Tom Stroup in a statement said that SIA's "delighted with the President’s recognition of the importance of the commercial space business" and it's "strongly encouraged" by the global competitiveness report directive. Commercial Spaceflight Federation Chairman Alan Stern in a statement said commercial space operations have "been innovating ... and competing around the world under the burden of regulations written decades ago, in some cases rooted in the Cold War," but now companies "can foresee a more streamlined legal and administrative regime that will allow us to continue to help transform how Americans access and use space.”
President Donald Trump signed a commercial space policy directive Thursday that includes having federal agencies craft a report for the White House on bettering the nation's global competitiveness for space radio frequency spectrum policies, regulation and activities at the ITU and other multilateral forums. The directive said the Transportation Department is to put out a new regulatory system for launch and re-entry activity by "targeting an industry that is undergoing incredible transformation with regulations that have failed to keep up." It said the DOT secretary will consider requiring a single license for all types of commercial space flight launch and re-entry operations "and replacing prescriptive requirements in the process with performance-based criteria." It also said the Commerce Department secretary should review commercial remote sensing regulations for consistency with the directive’s policy and address non-conforming regulations. It gives the commerce secretary 30 days to craft a plan for a "one-stop shop" within the agency for administering and regulating commercial space flight activities. And it ordered the National Space Council to review export licensing regulations affecting commercial space flight activity and deliver recommendations to the White House within 180 days. Satellite Industry Association President Tom Stroup in a statement said that SIA's "delighted with the President’s recognition of the importance of the commercial space business" and it's "strongly encouraged" by the global competitiveness report directive. Commercial Spaceflight Federation Chairman Alan Stern in a statement said commercial space operations have "been innovating ... and competing around the world under the burden of regulations written decades ago, in some cases rooted in the Cold War," but now companies "can foresee a more streamlined legal and administrative regime that will allow us to continue to help transform how Americans access and use space.”
The U.S. is moving toward creation of a national spectrum strategy that would predict spectrum trends and allow companies to do a better job of planning, said DOD spectrum chief Fred Moorefield at the National Spectrum Management Association annual conference Tuesday. “I think you'll see that coming out of the White House soon." He noted the Pentagon will update its own spectrum road map and action plan.
The U.S. is moving toward creation of a national spectrum strategy that would predict spectrum trends and allow companies to do a better job of planning, said DOD spectrum chief Fred Moorefield at the National Spectrum Management Association annual conference Tuesday. “I think you'll see that coming out of the White House soon." He noted the Pentagon will update its own spectrum road map and action plan.
The Satellite Industry Association said the FCC should protect satellite operations in spectrum above 95 GHz, in comments on the FCC’s spectrum horizons NPRM. Wireless and high-tech commenters see potential in the high-band spectrum (see 1805030037). “Given the substantial opportunities that would be available for [fixed service] in this initial 36 GHz of spectrum, no reason exists to adopt service rules or introduce FS in the 66.2 GHz of spectrum above 95 GHz that is shared between FS and either the fixed satellite service or the mobile satellite service,” SIA said in comments in docket 18-21. “FS operators clearly do not require access to these frequency resources and considerations for sharing this spectrum should be addressed at a later date.” The Millimeter Wave Coalition urged the FCC to address some technical issues that could impede use of the spectrum. The group wants safeguards to protect experimental licenses from being too easily canceled by the FCC: “While experimental licenses will no doubt remain ‘experimental’ without the expectations of regular FCC licenses, there should nevertheless be a procedural safeguard to protect experimental licensees who invest significant sums of money in developing technologies under an experimental license. The cancellation provisions … should only apply in cases of actual interference with some safeguards to allow appeal of interference determinations.” The coalition also said the FCC should extend RF safety limits above 100 GHz and provide “regulatory certainty” for industrial, scientific and medical equipment operating in the above-95 GHz band. The coalition cited as an example terahertz spectroscopy, which the FCC’s NPRM mentions as “a technology that is well-suited for the above-95 GHz frequencies given the shorter wavelengths and that has garnered interest for these frequencies.” The group warned “the lack of regulatory clarity in the United States has deterred companies from investing in this technology domestically.” Other commenters urged the FCC to open the bands for wireless. “The pressure on existing licensed mobile and unlicensed spectrum bands will continue to grow, and the bands identified in this docket can play an important role augmenting the spectrum used to support America’s wireless connectivity needs over the long term,” Qualcomm said. The Wi-Fi Alliance said the FCC mustn’t cut off unlicensed use of the spectrum. The FCC should make “few, if any” allocations now, the alliance said. “Any allocations it makes should allow the necessary flexibility to permit not only Wi-Fi and other existing unlicensed technologies, but also future not-yet envisioned unlicensed uses,” the alliance said. “Any rules adopted today should not inadvertently preclude future technologies.”