On April 12, 2023, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission), which licenses and regulates satellites transmission to and from the United States, published a summary of a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM or Notice) in the Federal Register. (The full text of the NPRM is available here.) The FCC proposes to allow new supplemental space coverage under its licensing system. As the FCC explained:
Through this novel approach, satellite operators collaborating with terrestrial service providers would be able to obtain Commission authorization to operate space stations on currently licensed, flexible-use spectrum allocated to terrestrial services. This would enable expanded coverage to a terrestrial licensee’s subscribers, especially in remote, unserved, and underserved areas, and would increase the availability of emergency communications.
The FCC’s proposal responds to a growing trend in which satellite companies seek to partner with terrestrial mobile service providers to provide mobile satellite services. Because the satellite operators want to use spectrum currently allocated only for terrestrial service, the current system does not accommodate these partnerships efficiently. Instead, these satellite-terrestrial collaborations have had to ask for waivers of the FCC’s rules in part 25 and the United States Table of Frequency Allocations in order to implement their proposed service. Other companies have received Commission authority to test communications between satellites and mobile devices, which is typically only a temporary fix.
The FCC would initially to limit its new framework to non-geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) operators with an existing part 25 authorization (whether foreign or domestic) because such satellite operators could rapidly deploy these space stations after receiving any needed modification to their existing authorizations to implement the supplemental space coverage.
The FCC proposes to add a non-federal mobile-satellite service footnote allocation for supplemental space coverage to the following flexible-use terrestrial bands:
600 MHz: 614–652 MHz and 663–698 MHz; 700 MHz: 698–758 MHz, 775 MHz–788 MHz, and 805–806 MHz; 800 MHz: 824–849 MHz and 869–894 MHz; Broadband PCS: 1850–1915 MHz and 1930–1995 MHz; AWS–H Block: 1915–1920 MHz and 1995–2000 MHz; and WCS: 2305–2320 MHz and 2345–2360 MHz. We believe these flexible-use terrestrial bands can benefit from provision of SCS because commercial wireless services have been deployed on these bands and because the bands include at least one spectrum block with an existing licensee that holds rights sufficient to provide the basis for a satellite applicant to satisfy our proposed entry criteria
The FCC seeks comment on its proposal and a host of implementation issues.
Comments Due: May 12, 2023
Reply Comments Due: June 12, 2023