CBA Earth Station Protections Not Converting Some Critics
A C-Band Alliance proposal for how CBA would protect earth stations in the 3.7-4.2 GHz band from interference from flexible use operations in the lower part of the band isn't winning over all critics. American Cable Association Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman emailed that CBA's docket 18-122 posting Tuesday "fails to address the most pressing concerns ... like higher prices, lost programming, and foregone investments. CBA’s failure to acknowledge and offer solutions to these problems highlights why they are not suited -- whereas the FCC is -- to manage any reimbursement program for C-band users.”
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Comcast has said it would support opening the band to terrestrial wireless use with proper protections (see 1903040042). It and NCTA didn't comment Tuesday.
Preston Padden, CBA head of advocacy and government relations, emailed that he's leaving effective immediately because of the time commitment. He'll continue to consult and work with CBA CEO Bill Tolpegin on a detailed auction sales and transition plan "that finally will silence our critics."
The CBA proposal lays out proposed limits on out-of-band emissions from flexible use mobile devices. Earth stations with a valid license to transmit in the 3.7-4.2 GHz band or receive-only stations that registered with the FCC are eligible for protection. It said its proposed rules wouldn't require use of a spectrum access system or ongoing earth station reporting.
CBA said its commitment to deploy more than 100,000 filters at earth stations, along with the proposed rules, ensures earth station protection. The proposal includes a 150-meter radius protection area around each fixed satellite service earth station and full-band full-arc access for any antenna with a diameter of 3 to 13 meters, giving incumbents "ample operational flexibility." That protection area isn't an exclusion zone but where flexible use licensees "will routinely adjust their deployment, if needed," to ensure earth station protection, it said. CBA said its plan has a path to new earth stations provided the affected flexible use licensees agree to protect it, and getting that agreement "should be reasonably feasible."
NAB hasn't backed any of the competing C-band clearing plans. Asked about the CBA earth station plan, a spokesperson emailed its focus "remains on protecting millions of radio listeners and TV viewers. That means ensuring that sufficient capacity remains in the C-band for reliable content distribution and that radio and TV broadcasters are made whole in any spectrum reshuffling in the band.”
T-Mobile's alternative band-clearing plan lacks key advantages of the CBA approach -- satellite operators proactively committing to investments, implementation and speed, CBA emailed us, responding to carrier critiques. It said including non-licensee earth stations in an auction isn't legal or feasible because many of the 17,000 are competitors and unlikely to facilitate a streamlined process. T-Mobile has defended its proposal.