The FCC voted unanimously on Thursday to seek comment on a plan to let satellite companies to lease their spectrum to other companies in a secondary market and sought public comment on allowing satellite companies to relinquish spectrum in return for proceeds from future airwaves auctions.
Specifically (pdf), the Commission explores spectrum allocated to the Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) in three bands — the 2 GHz band (TerreStar and ICO), Big LEO band (Iridium and Globalstar), and L band (SkyTerra Communications).
The plan could affect about 90 megahertz of spectrum that is particularly suited to broadband delivery. This rulemaking permits Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) licensees in the 2 GHz (1990-2025 MHz and 2165-2200 MHz), the L-band (1525-1544 MHz/1545-1559 MHz and 1626.5-1645.5 MHz/1646.5-1660.5 MHz), and the “Big LEO” (1610-1626.5 MHz and 2483.5-2500 MHz) bands to also integrate ancillary terrestrial components (ATCs) into their MSS networks.
The move comes after the FCC in late March approved an application by Harbinger Capital Partners to acquire SkyTerra, a mobile satellite services company that plans to launch a huge new satphone satellite next month.
Harbinger’s approval allows SkyTerra to build a land-based nationwide broadband network, which is in line with the FCC’s goal to provide broadband access to all Americans, especially households located in rural areas of the United States. Harbinger needs FCC approval before leasing wholesale spectrum capacity to the top two wireless providers: AT&T and Verizon Wireless.
Harbinger plans to use 10 MHz of SkyTerra’s MSS spectrum to develop a nationwide terrestrial LTE network. Tim Farrar thinks T-Mobile could be a partner in the terrestrial service.
Using satellite phone frequencies on some 36,000 terrestrial towers will enable Harbinger to bring 4G to underserved areas. Harbinger said in its statements to the FCC that all major markets will have ATCs installed by the end of the second quarter of 2013. On January 13, 2010, the FCC granted the company authority to integrate TerreStar’s 20 MHz S Band spectrum into its next generation terrestrial mobile wireless network. Presumably, that would also result in LTE “4G” service on the satellite’s 2 GHz band.
In the “S” band (2GHz), TerreStar has the right to use 20 MHz of its spectrum terrestrially, as does ICO. In the 1.6 GHz “L” band, MSV’s Skyterra has a similar capability, while LEO satphone provider Globalstar will use 11 MHz of its 1.6/2.4 GHz satellite radio frequencies for a complementary terrestrial wireless service. Globalstar is in partnership with Open Range, which hopes to offer state-of-the-art 4G services to un-served and underserved customers across America in the fourth quarter of this year.
President Barack Obama has backed The FCC’s plans to boost spectrum. The White House has said some estimates suggest that the next five years will see an increase in wireless data of between 20 times and 45 times 2009 levels. The FCC’s Spectrum Dashboard allows new ways for citizens to search spectrum in the United States. Use the dashboard to find out how spectrum is being used, who owns spectrum licenses around the country, and what spectrum is available in your county.
In other news, the FCC passed a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), to rework a US$400 million-a-year program to subsidize broadband to rural health-care facilities. It’s designed to bring affordable broadband connectivity to more than 2,000 rural hospitals and clinics across the U.S. The purpose of an NPRM is to ask members of the public whether they agree with the proposed changes.
The FCC said it would increase the portion of health provider service costs it subsidizes to 50 percent from 25 percent and pay for 85 percent of the construction costs.
The money for the program would come from the Universal Service Fund (USF), funded with an 11% tax on long-distance and international phone service. USF’s annual budget of about $7 billion a year would not rise under the proposal.
Verizon and AT&T are the biggest recipients of USF subsidies although they both support reform of the fund. Verizon received $1.2 billion while AT&T received $1.3 billion between 2007 and 2010. The USF has traditionally subsidized telephone service in rural and poor areas.
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