‘Queue Jumping,’ ITU Program for BSS Satellite Numbering Should Not Expand, U.S. Says
GENEVA -- The ITU should “maintain its focus on the management of frequency assignments,” not take on the operational role of assigning identification numbers to satellites or becoming involved in satellite tracking, a U.S. official told us. A World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) decision aims to assign and use an identification number for spacecraft as part of due diligence information submitted for certain broadcasting satellite service (BSS) networks in regions other than the Americas, officials said. Use of a new “queue jumping” concept for priority access for certain satellite network filings should not be considered in other bands or situations in the future, the U.S. official said. Further approvals will be needed this week before the decisions become final.
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The U.S. tried to open discussion Feb. 13 on a resolution dealing with due diligence and to get rid of the satellite identifications being created by the Radiocommunication Bureau, said a satellite executive involved in the talks. The chairman of the committee promptly asked if there were any support for the proposal after it was raised by the U.S., he said. “Nobody took the floor and in 15 seconds, the proposal was dead,” he said.
The agenda item addresses spectrum usage of the 21.4 to 22 GHz band for BSS and the associated feeder-link bands in the two ITU regions outside the Americas, a U.S. official told us. As such, this is fundamentally an issue to be addressed by administrations in the Asia-Pacific, Africa, European, Middle East and the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications, she said.
In resolving the issues under the agenda item, administrations have agreed that satellites operating in the BSS band for the two regions outside the Americas would be subject to a “queue jumping” concept and a due diligence methodology that includes the ITU assigning an identification number to a satellite, the official said. The ITU identification number associated to a satellite would no longer be able to be used after the end of the satellite’s life, the official said.
The U.S. continues to oppose ITU taking on the operational role of assigning identification numbers to satellites or becoming involved in satellite tracking, the U.S. official said. As of Feb. 18, BSS frequency assignments for satellites in geostationary orbits brought into use in the 21.4 to 22 GHz band will be required to submit information on the identify of the spacecraft, the draft resolution said, namely an ITU identification number, spacecraft manufacturer and launch services provider, the draft text said.
The U.S. doesn’t want the “queue jumping” concept considered in other bands or situations, the U.S. official said. A compromise reached on queue jumping addressed the issue in a “softer way” than initially proposed, the executive said. It would apply to countries that are making their first filing, and can only be done once, he said. The filing would jump to the front of the queue of those that have not yet been processed, he said. It gets some special treatment in terms of identifying coordination requirements, he said. After that, “you're on your own,” he said.
The U.S. doesn’t object to the undertaking because it’s not party to the agreement, the official said. The U.S. interest in this agenda item is to protect the fixed, mobile and radio astronomy services in the Americas from BSS operations in the 21.4 to 22 GHz band in the other regions, the U.S. official said. “This has been accomplished,” she said.