Satellite C-Band Clearing Plan Details Being Fleshed Out
Intelsat, Intel and SES are pitching to the FCC details of how their proposed clearing of 100 MHz of C-band spectrum for terrestrial mobile use might work. The three said in a meeting with Wireless and International bureaus and Office…
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of Engineering and Technology and Office of Strategic Planning representatives that 100 MHz, plus a transition band, could be cleared in 18 to 36 months after an FCC order, and that terrestrial demand for such midband spectrum could result in more being cleared in the future, said a docket 17-183 filing posted Monday. Such additional clearing would have to protect Intelsat and SES customers and businesses, they said, saying not all C-band satellites are fungible and the satellites used for video distribution are heavily used. They said after an order, the C-band consortium would start on market-based selections and negotiation of secondary market agreements, with that process taking up to eight months. Once the agreements are done, the prospective mobile licensees would file license applications, with grant conditioned on full release of agreement funds in escrow. The companies estimated time from filing to grant could take up to seven months. Grant of the mobile licenses would trigger payment of the clearing costs by the licensees to the consortium, with that consortium launching the clearing process, taking up to 20 months. After clearing, payments would be provided from the escrow to the consortium, with an FCC public notice removing the payment condition from the coordinated mobile licenses. The companies also challenged the Broadband Access Coalition push to allow terrestrial point-to-multipoint co-frequency sharing in the 3.7-4.2 GHz band (see 1706210044), saying it doesn't make sense to clear the spectrum for 5G mobile use while also bringing in other fixed operations by BAC members that will impair the spectrum for mobile operations. They said moving BAC's proposal to the 6 GHz band could cause less disruption to satellite services. Among those meeting were Wireless Bureau Chief Don Stockdale, IB Chief Tom Sullivan and OET Chief Julius Knapp. BAC counsel didn't comment. An NPRM on the C-band clearing proposal is expected by some this summer (see 1804200003).