FCC Adds Spectrum Leasing Rules to MSS Bands
The FCC is changing rules for mobile satellite service (MSS), in an order released late Wednesday. The order was largely uncontroversial and is in line with the proposed rulemaking from last year (CD July 16 p1). The document will add secondary market spectrum leasing rules for terrestrial use in bands allocated for MSS and give terrestrial S-band use co-primary status. The order was developed by the Wireless and International bureaus and Office of Engineering and Technology.
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The S-band changes affect TerreStar and DBSD, both in bankruptcy proceedings. Dish Network is buying DBSD out of bankruptcy, and a bankruptcy judge has approved the plans. The necessary FCC application hasn’t been filed. TerreStar doesn’t have a buyer. The co-primary status change adds flexibility for use of the band, the FCC has said.
The new spectrum leasing rules apply existing wireless spectrum leasing rules to the MSS bands. The rules “will enable significant flexibility for the provision of terrestrial mobile broadband” as part of an MSS/ancillary terrestrial component service offering, the agency said. Under those rules, MSS licensees will be required to make sure lessees continue to adhere to gating criteria for MSS, the agency said. That criteria includes the “provision of substantial satellite service,” said the FCC.
The rule change stems from proposals in the National Broadband Plan. The plan proposed that the commission promote deployment of terrestrial mobile broadband in three of the four MSS bands: The L-Band, the S-Band, and the Big LEO band. The agency published a notice of inquiry along with the proposed rulemaking asking for input on how best to increase terrestrial broadband use in the MSS bands. The order doesn’t specifically address incentive auctions or the relaxation of gating criteria for MSS users, both of which were asked about in the NOI.
Loosening gating criteria is largely seen as the issue that would most immediately affect broadband use in the bands, said satellite industry executives. The order said the regulator anticipates issuing a proposed rulemaking “on subjects raised in the” NOI. They include “possible service rule changes that could increase investment and utilization of the band in a manner that further serves the public interest,” the order said. If a proposed rulemaking doesn’t address the gating criteria, the commission may instead seek to relax gating criteria in the context of a transition, a satellite industry executive speculated. The transactions could give the agency the ability to pull back gating criteria that prohibit offering terrestrial-only broadband service on a case-by-case basis, rather than go through a full rule-change on the issue, as raised in the NOI, the executive said.