Satellite Industry Challenging Wheeler Claims of 28 GHz Obstruction at WRC-15
The satellite industry isn't trying to obstruct sharing of the 28 GHz band with 5G but has "different priorities and timelines" than the FCC has, Satellite Industry Association President Tom Stroup told us Wednesday in response to comments by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler at the SIA's Satellite Leadership Dinner Monday. According to posted text of the speech, which was closed to the news media, Wheeler lambasted the industry. He said it was "beyond disappointing to see [it] work so hard to block the ITU from even studying 5G at 28 GHz" at November's World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC). "We're not really seeking to obstruct," Stroup said.
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Wheeler also said the FCC plans to act on the spectrum frontiers proceeding this summer, and called the rulemaking proposal for the 28 GHz "a good place to start." Wheeler said his preference "would be for the satellite industry to work with the mobile industry and quickly come back to us with realistic sharing ideas for the coexistence of satellite and mobile in these upper bands. And quickly means now. Industry-driven win-win solutions that protect your existing and contemplated satellite services, while also enabling new terrestrial offerings, are likely to find regulatory favor. Claims that sharing is impossible are not."
"Such intransigence [at WRC-15] was frustrating," Wheeler said. "I do not believe it was in the satellite industry's interest to stop the ITU from even exploring sharing at 28 GHz. This is especially true when the U.S. and other countries interested in being leaders in 5G are already committed to developing sharing in that band. It would have made more sense to have that study take place in a settling where the satellite industry is an experienced and active participant in the process." Commissioner Mike O'Rielly also has been critical of the 5G decision at WRC-15, calling it "incomprehensible that even doing studies should be a non-starter or off the table" (see 1601150063). Stroup said he wasn't at WRC-15 and couldn't comment specifically on why there was resistance to studying 5G at 28 GHz. But he said since many nations haven't even deployed 4G, "ensuring they have uninterrupted satellite service is a priority to them."
One "issue the U.S. ran into, we're seeking to establish a leadership position on 5G and other countries are more focused on other issues," Stroup said. While the satellite industry obviously had an interest in WRC-15, member nations make the decisions, and those countries saw a need for satellite spectrum protection, said Jennifer Manner, EchoStar vice president-regulatory affairs.
It's incorrect to blame the satellite industry for the failure of the 5G issue at WRC-15 because the much bigger wireless industry was strongly backing the U.S. position, a satellite industry lawyer told us Wednesday. While countries like Japan and South Korea backed the U.S. position, Europe strongly favored protecting satellite use of the spectrum, the lawyer said. The satellite industry likely won't coalesce around one 28 GHz sharing proposal, but a group of companies within the industry probably will come to some consensus, the lawyer said.
The satellite industry is working with the wireless industry to develop the right technical approaches to 5G sharing, but the summer time frame set by Wheeler is "a challenge," Stroup said. One particular hurdle is that 5G "has not been fully defined," so the industry is working on signal protection methodology "when we're not fully sure what's going to be deployed," Stroup said.
Asked Tuesday about the results of WRC-15, Inmarsat Global CEO Rupert Pearce said at Satellite 2016 that the industry successfully "mobilized earlier than ever before." Pearce also said "we've got to stop thinking about things like it's a competitive sport" with winners and losers, and back increased cooperation. He didn't specifically name 5G.