The FCC last week considered proposed options for where to relocate federal spectrum users in the 1.7 GHz band to make way for advanced wireless services (AWS). Last fall, the agency adopted a spectrum allocation order and proposed service rules for 2 blocks of 45 MHz spectrum, including the 1710-1755 MHz that the Dept. of Defense agreed to clear for advanced services such as 3G. The other block was 45 MHz of the 2110-2170 MHz now occupied by nongovt. users. In its latest rulemaking, the FCC proposed to: (1) Let DoD use 2025-2110 on a co-equal, co-primary basis with nonfederal govt. operations for earth stations at 11 sites that supported military space operations. (2) Roll back the recent establishment of Wireless Communications Services (WCS) at 2385-2395 MHz, let federal and nonfederal flight test stations operate at 2385-2395 MHz and no longer make 2390-2400 MHz available for use by unlicensed PCS devices. That 2nd change would allow DoD to relocate all aeronautical mobile systems out of 1710-1755 MHz, “which is a major objective for facilitating the introduction of AWS.” The proposal said that over time DoD access to 2025-2110 MHz for uplinks for military space operations -- known as tracking telemetry and command operations -- could make more spectrum available at 1755-1850 MHz for “absorbing certain DoD systems displaced from the band 1710-1755 MHz.” The plan would permit military services to use fixed and mobile stations, except aeronautical mobile services, at 2025-2110 MHz, on a secondary basis at 6 sites in the Southwest. As part of those spectrum relocation possibilities, which look for places to move federal users to in spectrum that’s under the purview of the FCC, the WCS and unlicensed PCS proposals would provide replacement spectrum for DoD and commercial flight test stations, the Commission said. Those stations may lose access to 35 MHz at 1525-1535 MHz and 2320-2345 MHz shortly. The Commission said it licensed 2025-2110 MHz to Broadcast Auxiliary Service (BAS). During the comment period, NAB and MSTV told the FCC they didn’t oppose the idea of relocating some federal operations to the band as long as broadcasters weren’t deprived of essential BAS services. “We believe that this action would provide a reasonable opportunity for clearing the band 1710-1755 MHz for new nationwide AWS uses and that permitting DoD earth stations access to the band 2025-2110 MHz would also provide greater use of the band 2025-2110 MHz without a significant impact on incumbent operations,” the proposal said. The proposal is expected to have a minimal impact on unlicensed PCS use at 2390-2400 MHz, where federal and nonfederal use of 2390-2395 MHz is expected for a “limited” number of aeronautical telemetry ranges in remote areas. “We have reviewed our files and have found that no unlicensed PCS device has been authorized in the band 2390-2400 MHz,” the proposal said.

PanAmSat notified the FCC that it intended to withdraw its 11 applications for the planned fixed satellite service (FSS) system in the 40 and 50 GHz bands (V-band). The company also asked for a full refund of the $935,495 it had paid in filing fees. Citing the new space station licensing rules as the catalyst for its decision, PanAmSat said “it would be subject to financial, business and regulatory risks that did not exist when PanAmSat filed its application… Plainly these changes radically alter the risk and reward considerations that PanAmSat had before it when it filed its applications 6 years ago.”

Wireless and satellite petitions ask the FCC to reconsider an order on technical specifications in the use of ancillary terrestrial components (ATCs) with mobile satellite service (MSS) spectrum. The Commission clarified one of the major issues -- when ATC applications could be submitted -- in a separate order Thurs. (CD July 8 p3). Inmarsat and Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) addressed interference protection limits adopted by the Commission to protect Inmarsat’s MSS system satellites and mobile terminals (MTs) from harmful interference in the L-band. MSV said the technical restrictions on co-channel ATC user terminals in the L-band were too restrictive, allowing Inmarsat’s next- generation satellites an interference protection level of 1.4%: “This level of protection afforded Inmarsat is arbitrary because there is no record evidence to support that Inmarsat needs this level of interference protection.” The accepted international protection level is 6%, MSV said, and the FCC should adopt that as well. Not only will that level protect Inmarsat satellites, but the L-band spectrum can be use more efficiently, MSV said. A more-lenient protection level combined with an interference reduction factor of 3.5 dB for a half-rate vocoder (a device that compresses the voice signal) will allow applicants to deploy a larger number of base station carriers, 14,785, instead of 3,450, in the L- band, the company said. The Commission also should allow L- band base stations to operate at higher signal, power flux density and gain levels, all of which are set at “unreasonably conservative parameters” to protect Inmarsat user terminals, MSV said. Inmarsat told the FCC it was pleased with the adopted protection levels, but said they would be effective only if based on accurate assumptions about ATC systems and if they could be modified to account for system proposals that differed from FCC assumption. Peak gain levels specified by MSV in previous letters to the FCC are 1.5 dBi lower than what the Commission proposed, Inmarsat said, and could cause more interference than expected without certain additional limitations: “If one took this 1.5 dB adjustment into consideration in the Commission’s calculation of the expected level of self-interference from L-band ATC systems, the number of permissible MSV ATC base stations per channel would decrease to 1,221 (from 1,725).” The FCC also should clarify that the limit on the number of simultaneous transmitting ATC mobile terminals should be 90,000 to protect Inmarsat spacecraft from adjacent channel interference, the company said. Meanwhile, Boeing asked the FCC to clarify its rules on the geographic and temporal coverage requirements for MSS ATC systems. Where 2 GHz MSS licensees must provide service to the entire U.S. all of the time, 2 GHz MSS geostationary orbit licensees must provide service to the entire U.S. only “if technically feasible,” Boeing said. It’s not technically possible to provide MSS to all of Alaska from a GSO satellite and “the Commission’s geographic gating requirement for 2 GHz MSS operators should use the identical language as its geographic coverage requirement for 2 GHz MSS networks,” Boeing said. Cingular Wireless and CTIA also petitioned for reconsideration, raising concerns that gating criteria designed to ensure substantial satellite service weren’t adequate. Cingular argued that nothing in the order would prevent an MSS licensee from using 99% of its spectrum for terrestrial operations and having only terrestrial customers. “Porous gating criteria which allow predominant, if not total, terrestrial operations expose the unlawfulness of the FCC’s decision to not utilize auctions and the inconsistency with its satellite-only decisions,” Cingular said. The gating criteria don’t ensure ancillary terrestrial service will remain “truly ancillary,” it said. “While the rules do require the launch and continued operation of a mobile satellite system that meets the coverage requirements for the various MSS bands,” Cingular said, “those coverage requirements are defined solely in terms of one or more satellites being ‘in view’ of potential subscribers anywhere in the United States.” Similarly, it contended that commercial availability as defined in the order was linked to meeting coverage requirements, not requiring that an MSS licensee have paying satellite service subscribers. It called for 2 gating criteria changes: (1) Limiting the ability of MSS licensees to reduce satellite system capacity. (2) Requiring that customer equipment look first to the satellite to complete a connection. “The Commission must also make clear that MSS licensees bear the burden of demonstrating by credible evidence -- not just mere certification -- that the ATC gating criteria have been satisfied,” Cingular said. It also urged the FCC to clarify that an MSS licensee must satisfy all of its implementation milestones as part of the gating criteria. The rules “do not explicitly require” the satisfaction of implementation milestones to obtain ATC authority, but stipulate that a licensee’s service “must be commercially available” under the coverage requirements of a particular band. Similarly, CTIA said the FCC didn’t go far enough to ensure “ATC service would remain ‘ancillary’ in practice.” It said the order directed MSS ATC applicants to demonstrate that the ancillary offering was integrated with the MSS offering, which they could meet by satisfying a “safe harbor” standard or an individualized FCC assessment. A footnote to the order says such requirement shouldn’t be imposed on PDAs, laptops or other computers. But CTIA said the exact application of the footnote wasn’t clear. “There is no reason to treat PDAs or other computing devices that contain an MSS offering with an ATC component differently than a handset with the same functionality,” CTIA said.

GENEVA -- To help trim the size of the agenda for the next World Radio Conference (WRC) from this year’s slate of 48 items, WRC-03 Chmn. Veena Rawat said new guidelines to vet the relevance and cost of proposals should help. “I am hoping you will hear at this conference about budget considerations,” said Rawat, who is deputy director-gen. of spectrum engineering for Industry Canada. While WRCs have faced a growing array of agenda items, from as few as 11 at WRC-97, Rawat said in an interview here this week that that was partly a reflection of demand for new wireless technology: “Technology has been coming very fast, new wireless uses have been coming very fast. The need for harmonization of spectrum has increased very quickly.”

Independent MultiFamily Communications Council doesn’t require emergency relief from or reconsideration of an FCC ruling removing it from its satellite frequency (IB 98-172), the Satellite Industry Assn. (SIA) said in a report to the FCC. The ruling was made after the Commission concluded that the 18.3-18.58 GHz band should be designated for the fixed satellite service (FSS), thus requiring terrestrial users to vacate the band over the next 10 years and prohibiting any new applications for terrestrial use in the band. The SIA said it found no basis in the IMCC’s bid for reconsideration and emergency relief. Relief or reconsideration from an order requires that the petitioner suffer irreplaceable harm if not granted, which the IMCC itself actually admitted wasn’t the case, SIA said. The IMCC also waited 6 months before filing its relief request, which SIA said was much too long after the May 8, 2003, date on which the rule changes became effective to be taken seriously. The IMCC also doesn’t satisfy any aspect of the 4-point standard for granting emergency relief as established in the Va. Petroleum Jobbers case, nor will it further the public interest, the SIA said.

A workshop of Caribbean telecom regulators next week in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, that will focus on policy issues at the upcoming World Radio Conference, could win even more support for common proposals of the Inter-American Telecom Commission (CITEL), CITEL Exec. Dir. Clovis Baptista said Mon. Inter- American Proposals (IAPs) for the conference June 9-July 4 will be vetted among policymakers from 15 Caribbean administrations, Baptista told us. “IAP common proposals could receive strong support from other countries,” he said. IAPs are finalized if they are supported by at least 6 administrations and when there is opposition, if it’s less than or equal to 50% of the number of countries that support a proposal. The scope of the agenda for this year’s WRC is a concern, particularly for developing nations with limited resources, Baptista said. This year’s agenda has 44 items, compared with 11 in 1997. “It’s a concern of everybody’s because the huge amount of items to be addressed is unbelievable,” he said. He said CITEL as well as other regional organizations, in response to this agenda’s size, “did a much better job of anticipating coordination with other participants.” IAP common proposals were finalized in Feb. at a meeting in Orlando. Baptista said that the large number of agenda items posed particular challenges for developing countries that had difficulty putting resources into the WRC preparatory process in each region. Caribbean nations often have very few people working exclusively on telecom and spectrum policy issues, which makes WRC preparations a challenge, he said. Next week’s workshop, to be held in conjunction with the ITU-Development sector, is important in part because it could receive more support for CITEL IAPs that already have backing from a significant number of that group’s 34 administrations, Baptista said. CITEL said IAP drafts that didn’t receive clear-cut support at the Feb. meeting included a proposal on agenda item 1.24. That proposal would have the conference review usage of 13.75-14 GHz in line with developments at WRC 2000, when nongeostationary orbit (NGSO) fixed satellite service earth station transmitters in the band created a potential sharing issue with the space research service. Some satellite companies are interested in easing antenna size for broader deployment of broadband applications without causing interference to military radar. CITEL said one reason a common IAP didn’t emerge on that item was because there were 2 opposing proposals. CITEL members agreed to continue to circulate preliminary proposals on that and a 2nd agenda item, 1.38, for which similar competing proposals were making the rounds. Agenda item 1.38 would consider providing up to 6 MHz to the earth exploration satellite service in the 420- 470 MHz band.

The World Radio Conference (WRC) 2003 is set to take up a proposal under which earth stations on vessels (ESVs) could operate in fixed satellite service (FSS) networks without causing unacceptable interference. Among the questions that remain before the conference starts in June is whether the FCC will open a rulemaking beforehand, several sources said. While both ESV developers and fixed wireless service (FS) operators agree FS systems should be protected from interference, “the details of how that’s accomplished are huge and they overwhelm everything else,” a source said. There’s still disagreement between FS and ESV stakeholders on whether the FCC should issue a proposal before the start of WRC.

House Telecom Subcommittee ranking Democrat Markey (Mass.) reintroduced legislation Thurs. to create a “spectrum commons” for the public through unlicensed spectrum. The spectrum allocations are designed to provide more room for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other wireless protocols, he said. Markey said opening such spectrum would create more spectrum efficiency as well as spur innovation. “The ’spectrum commons’ will also help to propel economic growth and innovations by opening up the airwaves to new marketplace entry by individuals and entities unaffiliated with established network providers, such as incumbent cable, telephone or wireless carriers,” Markey told the House.

The FCC plans to take up at its Thurs. agenda meeting a proposal and an order addressing rule changes for Multipoint Distribution Service (MDS) and Instructional TV Fixed Service (ITFS) licensees, which have sought modifications to help deploy next-generation systems for wireless broadband. MDS and ITFS operators urged the FCC Wireless Bureau last fall to move away from a “broadcast-style” approach to that spectrum in areas such as interference analysis. One expectation among industry lobbyists is that among the questions on which the FCC will seek feedback is whether ITFS licensees should be able to sell, not just lease, their spectrum.

FCC’s recent mobile satellite service (MSS) order chose less conservative emissions limits to protect GPS from ancillary terrestrial operations than power levels that were advocated by NTIA, private sector and other agencies, including Defense Dept. Five days before FCC adopted order Jan. 29, NTIA raised concerns that out-of-band power limits ultimately approved for ancillary terrestrial service would “significantly degrade” performance of GPS receivers to meet Enhanced 911 accuracy requirements. NTIA and FCC reached agreement that entailed latter’s Office of Engineering & Technology’s soliciting comments “shortly” on what changes, if any, were needed in GPS protection, NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory said.