FCC Likely to Approve Upper C-Band NPRM With Some Added Questions
FCC commissioners are expected to approve an NPRM Thursday to seek comment on rules for an upper C-band auction, most likely with a few tweaks from the draft notice that Chairman Brendan Carr circulated (see 2510290047), industry officials said Monday. The FCC has heard from various parties asking for questions to be added.
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The draft put numerous issues on the table that incumbents may be worried about, said Joe Kane, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation's director of broadband and spectrum policy. “This band has had so much policy attention that it's hard to imagine an added question is going to reveal major new issues.” That also means it could be “an easy lift for the commission to just throw in a more sympathetic-sounding question,” he said.
Aviation representatives raised further issues about protecting the use of radio altimeters in the upper C band (see 2511140015) during a meeting with Wireless Bureau staff, according to a filing from the Aerospace Vehicle Systems Institute, posted Monday in docket 25-59. The industry representatives noted that the FAA “significantly underestimated the cost for retrofitting radio altimeters to comply with Lower C-band compatibility mandates.”
The work required to address upper C-band changes “is even more extensive,” and the costs “will be impacted by the accelerated re-design, qualification, certification production, and installation of radio altimeters, and would include potential loss of revenue for removing aircraft from service to replace and integrate new equipment,” the institute's filing argued.
In another filing posted Monday, the Open Technology Institute at New America reported on its calls with aides to Carr and Commissioner Anna Gomez. The FCC should seek comment on “potential additional satellite or other uses of the upmost portion of the 3.98-4.2 GHz C-band that will not be reallocated for auction,” the group said. It remains unknown at this point “whether a portion of the band will remain allocated for Fixed Satellite Service and, even if not, whether a guard band will be needed to separate full-power terrestrial operations and aircraft altimeters operating in the adjacent 4200 MHz band.”
Groups led by Public Knowledge, meanwhile, asked the FCC to seek comment on a tribal window prior to the auction, an issue raised in the initial upper C-band notice of inquiry (see 2502280032). PK Senior Vice President Harold Feld said Monday that he’s hopeful for a change to the draft NPRM to either adopt a tribal window as a proposal or at least seek further comment.
The C-band NPRM provides an opportunity to “fully develop the band for terrestrial commercial use,” but it's “a touchy subject … given the controversies of yore,” emailed Cooley’s Robert McDowell. “With now years of notice and technological advances, the commission can safely allocate more, not less, of the upper C for auction without harmful interference to anyone else.” It’s “safe to assume that we will see a replay of at least a wee bit of controversy.”