The satellite industry is shoving back on wireless industry arguments against Boeing's plans for 2,900-plus V-band satellite constellation. "Authorizing V-band service does not require the Commission to choose between terrestrial and satellite services," the company said in an International Bureau filing Monday, taking aim at various wireless interest arguments that Boeing's proposed satellite constellation would hamper V-band use for 5G (see 1612020002). Satellite Industry Association said wireless arguments that the spectrum frontiers proceeding should supersede Boeing's application are flawed since the agency isn't required to complete more work on the frontiers before the bureau takes substantive action on the Boeing request.
Amazon pushed voice control by Alexa as a differentiator for its Music Unlimited on-demand music service announced Wednesday. Amazon’s $9.99-per-month service ($7.99 for Prime members or $79 per year) gives subscribers access to “tens of millions of songs” and thousands of playlists and personalized stations that can be accessed via the Alexa voice engine.
Amazon pushed voice control by Alexa as a differentiator for its Music Unlimited on-demand music service announced Wednesday. Amazon’s $9.99-per-month service ($7.99 for Prime members or $79 per year) gives subscribers access to “tens of millions of songs” and thousands of playlists and personalized stations that can be accessed via the Alexa voice engine.
With the satellite industry increasingly offering broadband speeds and direct-to-home services, it needs enough protected access to greenfield millimeter wave spectrum bands to enable those offerings, the Satellite Industry Association said Tuesday in a filing in FCC docket 14-177. Satellite commenters joined wireless and other interests responding to a spectrum frontiers Further NPRM (see 1610030047). SIA said the FCC needs to ensure satellite systems can locate individually licensed earth stations on a coordinated basis and can deploy user terminals in parts of the upper millimeter wave bands. It said the FCC needs to guarantee V-band satellite systems have enough access to uplink and downlink spectrum for those individually licensed earth stations and end user terminals. The 37.39 GHz, 47 GHz, 50 GHz and 70/80 GHz bands "have substantial existing FSS [fixed satellite service] allocations" and the industry "plans to make intensive use" of that spectrum, SIA said. It backed protection of feeder links in the 24.75-25.25 GHz band and for the FCC to specify that satellite use of that band isn't limited to broadcasting satellite service feeder links. It said rules for upper microwave flexible use (UMFU) in the 24, 47 and 50 GHz bands should, at least, identify aggregate interference to satellites as a possible risk "and commit to addressing it," akin to what it did with 28 GHz. Global VSAT Forum (GVF) said the V-band spectrum needs of broadband satellite systems preclude some of the spectrum sharing ideas in the NPRM for satellite end user terminals in parts of the 47 GHz band. Instead, GVF said, UMFU terminals could operate on an opportunistic basis, having full use of the band when FSS end user operations were small. Inmarsat said current satellite bands opened for UMFU use should keep primary satellite allocations and consideration should be given to opening the band to diverse satellite operations perhaps on a secondary basis if there's no pre-existing satellite allocation. It urged individual examination of the utility of each band for addressing future spectrum needs without first determining technical rules and licensing regimes: "In some cases, the best approach may be to introduce [UMFU service] on a secondary basis, if at all." Boeing, which is pursuing creation of a V-band non-geostationary orbit satellite constellation (see 1606230050), said the FCC should avoid any UMFU spectrum allocation in the 47 and 50 GHz bands and keep UMFU operations to the 28 GHz and 37/39 GHz bands. It urged letting satellite systems operate downlink transmissions in the 37/39 GHz band at ITU power flux density levels, saying the lower limits the FCC adopted are now outdated, given better technology. And it said any UMFU sharing in the 42 GHz band should be done on a shared basis, with satellite end user terminals able to receive signals there on a shared opportunistic basis with UMFU systems.
With the satellite industry increasingly offering broadband speeds and direct-to-home services, it needs enough protected access to greenfield millimeter wave spectrum bands to enable those offerings, the Satellite Industry Association said Tuesday in a filing in FCC docket 14-177. Satellite commenters joined wireless and other interests responding to a spectrum frontiers Further NPRM (see 1610030047). SIA said the FCC needs to ensure satellite systems can locate individually licensed earth stations on a coordinated basis and can deploy user terminals in parts of the upper millimeter wave bands. It said the FCC needs to guarantee V-band satellite systems have enough access to uplink and downlink spectrum for those individually licensed earth stations and end user terminals. The 37.39 GHz, 47 GHz, 50 GHz and 70/80 GHz bands "have substantial existing FSS [fixed satellite service] allocations" and the industry "plans to make intensive use" of that spectrum, SIA said. It backed protection of feeder links in the 24.75-25.25 GHz band and for the FCC to specify that satellite use of that band isn't limited to broadcasting satellite service feeder links. It said rules for upper microwave flexible use (UMFU) in the 24, 47 and 50 GHz bands should, at least, identify aggregate interference to satellites as a possible risk "and commit to addressing it," akin to what it did with 28 GHz. Global VSAT Forum (GVF) said the V-band spectrum needs of broadband satellite systems preclude some of the spectrum sharing ideas in the NPRM for satellite end user terminals in parts of the 47 GHz band. Instead, GVF said, UMFU terminals could operate on an opportunistic basis, having full use of the band when FSS end user operations were small. Inmarsat said current satellite bands opened for UMFU use should keep primary satellite allocations and consideration should be given to opening the band to diverse satellite operations perhaps on a secondary basis if there's no pre-existing satellite allocation. It urged individual examination of the utility of each band for addressing future spectrum needs without first determining technical rules and licensing regimes: "In some cases, the best approach may be to introduce [UMFU service] on a secondary basis, if at all." Boeing, which is pursuing creation of a V-band non-geostationary orbit satellite constellation (see 1606230050), said the FCC should avoid any UMFU spectrum allocation in the 47 and 50 GHz bands and keep UMFU operations to the 28 GHz and 37/39 GHz bands. It urged letting satellite systems operate downlink transmissions in the 37/39 GHz band at ITU power flux density levels, saying the lower limits the FCC adopted are now outdated, given better technology. And it said any UMFU sharing in the 42 GHz band should be done on a shared basis, with satellite end user terminals able to receive signals there on a shared opportunistic basis with UMFU systems.
Associations and companies of every stripe support FCC efforts to streamline rules for so-called Team Telecom reviews of transactions involving foreign ownership, according to comments posted Friday in docket 16-155. “Protection of U.S. national security, law enforcement, and public safety interests need not entail the uncertainty, costs, and inequitable treatment embodied by the current Team Telecom review process,” said Level 3. Commenters want the FCC to hold executive branch review to certain timelines and reduce the scope of deals that trigger Team Telecom review, they said.
The FCC addressed some remaining petitions for reconsideration to its first space station licensing reform order, approved by the agency 13 years ago (see 0304240027), which made major changes to satellite licensing procedures. The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) lost on several fronts in the order, approved in a unanimous vote of the commissioners and part of Wednesday's Daily Digest.
The debate over 5G and fixed satellite service sharing of the 28 GHz band increasingly involves power flux density (PFD) and proposed limits on that measure of signal power level at the receiver. "As long as you will be sharing spectrum between satellite and terrestrial systems, this is the issue," Farooq Khan, CEO of 5G technology company Phazr, told us. "The back and forth over precise technical limits on power is entirely normal," satellite industry consultant Tim Farrar told us in an email, pointing to such issues as the Globalstar/Wi-Fi in 5 GHz or the GPS industry's past challenges to Ligado. "I'd expect the FCC to be leaning in favor of terrestrial interests because that is the political priority."
The FCC offered details on rules opening high-frequency bands for 5G, scheduled for a vote at its July 14 meeting. The FCC said in a fact sheet that the order adds a huge amount of spectrum to what's now available for licensed and unlicensed use, a point Chairman Tom Wheeler made in a major policy speech June 20 at the National Press Club (see 1606200044). The agency said it will impose limits on high-frequency spectrum holdings -- imposing restrictions limiting carriers to buying 1250 MHz of spectrum in the bands in the initial auctions and a threshold of 1250 MHz for case-by-case review of secondary market transactions. Satellite interests were at the commission last week to seek changes.
Jockeying by fixed satellite service (FSS) operators and allies to elevate the rights of secondary satellite services are "thinly-veiled attempts to confuse and delay the Commission's deliberative process" for 5G sharing in the 28 GHz band, CTIA said in a filing Friday in docket 14-177. The group said it and its members have worked with the FSS industry and made progress, but the Satellite Industry Association's push for a three-party technical meeting (see 1606020035) when FSS operators haven't been providing information requested by terrestrial wireless operators would only delay the rulemaking process. It also said the record contains sufficient information for an FCC decision. CTIA said the FCC should follow through on plans to adopt new technical and licensing rules for the 28 GHz and 37-40 GHz bands at its July open meeting that include spectrum sharing technical requirements. It said the agency should affirm terrestrial fixed and mobile services have primary status in the 27.5-28.35 GHz bands: "The secondary status of FSS incumbents is a bedrock principle of this proceeding." SIA didn't comment. In an ex parte filing in the docket Friday, EchoStar recapped a meeting between Senior Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Jennifer Manner and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel about FSS and upper microwave flexible use (UMFU) sharing in the 28 GHz and 37-40 GHz bands. Manner said that under domestic and international tables of allocations, FSS is co-primary and satellite operators in the 28 GHz band have used that as the basis for coordinating their gateway earth stations, making co-primary protection necessary. EchoStar also said 28 GHz sharing can limit future gateway deployments outside urban cores but FSS operators need access to urban infrastructure and flexibility in earth station placement. It said the FCC needs to let FSS do good-faith coordination with UMFU operators to site earth station deployments.