The Satellite Industry Association called publication of rules which transfer export controls, including on satellites, from the U.S. Munitions List (USML) to the Commerce Control List a “truly comprehensive overhaul to the U.S. satellite export control system,” in an SIA news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/RMGEid). The final rules will be effective Nov. 10 (CD May 13 p12). The rules, which the State Department called interim, for USML Category XV will be effective June 27, State said in a Federal Register notice Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/1ooReJC).

Glowlink Communications Technology and iDirect Government Technologies joined the Satellite Industry Association. IDirect, based in Herndon, Va., offers satellite IP products for critical communications, and Silicon Valley-based Glowlink provides equipment and services for carrier spectrum monitoring, interference prevention and other applications, SIA said in a news release (http://bit.ly/Nuxm7N).

Commercial communications satellites will carry TV and media coverage from the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics to an anticipated global audience of three billion people, the Satellite Industry Association said in a press release (http://bit.ly/1eUBwjL). Commercial satellite operators SES, Intelsat, Eutelsat and Telesat are providing satellite connectivity to broadcasters and news organizations “so they may transmit live video content of the events as they happen to locations around the world,” it said. NBC is relying on SES satellite capacity during its live coverage of the Olympics, SIA said. TV channels and service providers “have also booked almost 500 hours of satellite transmissions from Eutelsat Communications to bring around-the-clock coverage to viewers throughout Europe,” it said.

The Satellite Industry Association urged the FCC to consider a “cost-based rebalancing of regulatory fees as between earth station and space station licensees as part of its ongoing review of the regulatory fee structure,” SIA said in an ex parte filing in dockets 13-140, 12-201 and 08-65 (http://bit.ly/1btKXC6). The apportionment of the regulatory fee burden between these categories is based on outdated information “that does not reflect significant streamlining of the space station licensing process,” it said. “As a result, the share of fees currently borne by space station licensees is too high, and the share borne by earth station licensees is too low.” This rebalancing will ensure that fees are assessed more accurately and fairly, it said.

The Satellite Industry Association applauded the passage of HR-3547, The Consolidated Appropriations Act, which included a provision to extend the commercial space launch indemnification. The three-year extension “ensures the continuation of a long-standing provision needed to help ensure the global competitiveness of U.S. companies,” SIA said in a news release Friday (http://bit.ly/1b8GRz1). The provision continues a risk management regime requiring launch service providers to acquire private launch insurance against the possibility of third party damages in the event of a failure involving government or commercial satellites, it said. But it offers government indemnification “for any such damages in excess of the required private launch insurance limits,” SIA said.

The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) Board of Directors elected on Jan. 14 Bill Weller of Space Systems/Loral to serve as chairman for the coming year, SIA said in a press release. The board also elected Stacy Fuller of DirecTV as vice chairman and Jennifer Manner of EchoStar as treasurer.

The Satellite Industry Association urged the FCC not to allocate the entire allotment of 1 percent rise-over-thermal to a secondary Aeronautical Mobile Service allocation if it decides to proceed with such as allocation. Doing so would be inconsistent with an International Telecommunication Union recommendation, “which makes it clear that the 1 percent allotment is for all non-primary sources interference and not any single interfering service,” it said in an ex parte filing in docket 13-114 (http://bit.ly/IPF8qH). The filing recounts a meeting with members of the International and Wireless bureaus and the Office of Engineering and Technology on Qualcomm’s proposal to implement a new secondary AMS allocation in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band, it said. Since there are already other secondary services in various parts of the band, “and there is a realistic possibility of at least one future secondary service ... the proposed AMS should be allotted only a third of the 1% budget,” it said. SIA stressed the need for technical rules for any potential AMS service using realistic antenna gain-to-noise-temperature values for existing current and future fixed satellite services satellites, “and deriving actual and enforceable power limits on any new secondary service that are sufficient to keep the interference caused by this system below 0.33%,” it said.

DigitalGlobe joined the Satellite Industry Association. DigitalGlobe provides high-resolution earth observation and advanced geospatial services and solutions, SIA said in a press release.

The Satellite Industry Association repeated that the FCC grant spectrum allocation changes for federal earth station facilities, but that there isn’t a need “to adopt a co-primary non-Federal allocation in frequencies currently available for launch operations,” in reply comments in docket 13-115 (http://bit.ly/16UH9Gz). The proceeding is to determine whether federal earth stations are to have full protection from interference when operating with commercial satellites (CD May 6 p5). The FCC should adopt SIA’s proposal for enhancing the current status of federal earth stations, it said: Because the FCC would have sole regulatory authority over the space segment of satellite systems operating in the fixed satellite services and mobile satellite services bands, “it can establish conclusively at the outset that its rules will apply to federal government operations, and that the bands will not be shared for regulatory purposes.” Boeing suggested that, to improve non-federal operators’ access to launch spectrum, the FCC should issue two-year experimental licenses instead of six-month special temporary authorizations, it said (http://bit.ly/GzJEIK). The company agreed it isn’t necessary for the FCC to re-engineer the current process by introducing a new co-primary non-federal allocation and associated rules, it said. Engineers for the Integrity of Broadcast Auxiliary Services Spectrum agreed with Comsearch’s concern that federal use of the extended satellite bands “should not be upgraded from secondary to co-primary, because these bands are extensively used by point-to-point terrestrial microwave stations,” it said (http://bit.ly/16e9onZ). Allowing federal downlinks in these bands that were no longer secondary “would give those sites super primary status because of the commission policy of protecting downlinks on all possible channels and all possible look angles,” EIBASS said. The group objects to allowing federal stations co-primary status in the extended Ku-band segment of 10.7-11.7 GHz, which is heavily used by Part 101 terrestrial FSS stations, it said. The Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition doesn’t object to federal access to non-federal satellite spectrum as long as federal users comply with all established frequency coordination procedures and industry practices, it said (http://bit.ly/171vIhd). FWCC supported Comsearch’s proposals, including requiring federal earth station users seeking to operate in shared non-federal bands to follow the same frequency coordination procedures and industry best practices currently required for non-federal users, it said. The FCC also should delete the extended Ku downlink band “from its proposed policy to provide federal earth stations with protected status, so as to preserve the 10.7-11.7 GHz band for badly needed FSS links,” it said.

Satellite companies and manufacturers urged the FCC to adopt a rule giving federal earth stations operating with commercial satellites full protection from interference. The Satellite Industry Association urged the commission to state in the allocation table that the primary federal 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).