Ligado Defends 5G in 1675-1680 MHz Band, Though Questions Remain
Ligado defended its proposal to reallocate the 1675-1680 MHz band for 5G, as it urged previously in 2019 (see 1905090041). The company filed reply comments posted Tuesday in docket 19-116. The FCC in January sought to refresh the record on the future of the band for shared use between federal incumbents and nonfederal fixed or mobile operations. Other parties continue to raise questions, as they did in the initial comment round (see 2503030045).
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The refresh came after NTIA submitted to the FCC its recent, updated Spectrum Pipeline Reallocation Engineering Study (SPRES), which was based on a lengthy NOAA examination and found that sharing may be possible in the band.
“In light of the comments recently filed in the docket to refresh the record and the comprehensive study filed by NOAA and NTIA last year, the record clearly supports prompt action by the Commission to reallocate this band for shared commercial use and initiate the process to auction the spectrum,” Ligado said. The four entities opposing reallocation “focus their attention on NOAA’s initial report” rather than the latest update, the company said. It noted that “one person was the sole signature on two of the filings,” and “another person jointly signed the other two.”
The American Geophysical Union (AGU) and other users of the 1675-1680 MHz band, meanwhile, warned of harmful interference. “While there may be a future possibility of sharing 1675-1680 MHz in an LTE uplink-only scenario with additional considerations, a sharing regime that includes both LTE downlink and uplink operations or only downlink operations is not feasible,” their filing said. “At best, only uplink operations have some prospect of being able to share the band.”
The FCC should “look beyond the executive summaries” of the initial SPRES and follow-up reports “and examine the fine print that inserts considerable doubt and concern about the viability of sharing 1675-1680 MHz,” the AGU-led groups said. “These issues are also amplified by the more than 120 comments in this and past proceedings from across the weather and water communities and their users, ranging across aviation, ports management, navigation and agriculture.” The filing was also signed by the ALERT Users Group, the American Meteorological Society, the American Weather and Climate Industry Association, the National Weather Association and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, among others.
Aviation Spectrum Resources and the International Air Transport Association opposed reallocation until the aviation industry’s concerns are addressed. “Aircraft operators require constant and reliable weather information to ensure weather effects are not an immediate threat to an aircraft['s] safety while also allowing the planning of reliable air service to their customers,” they said. The proceeding “has engendered strong and sustained opposition to the proposed shared use from advocates from the weather, water, and Earth science communities whose data products are relied upon by broad swaths of our nation’s economy.”
Carr Astronautics was similarly “concerned there is a significant likelihood of harmful interference to the reception of weather satellite imagery and relayed environmental data to public, private and academic partners that are crucial to the nation’s inherently collaborative weather and hydrological forecasting efforts.” The company said it has provided science and technology to NOAA and “their geostationary satellite programs for more than 30 years.”