FCC Adopts Shorter LEO Deorbit Window, Expects Other Space Junk Actions
The FCC approved a requirement that satellites in low earth orbit deorbit within five years of end of life, and the International Bureau anticipates further orbital debris rule-making action but can't say when, Deputy Chief Patrick Webre said Thursday. The 4-0 approval at the commissioners' September meeting was expected (see 2209230003). It also adopted unanimously orders updating emergency alert system rules, an NPRM removing FCC rules references to analog TV now that no analog TV services remain, and an order expanding access to telecom relay services for deaf or hard of hearing individuals. The agency said it's acting in Florida in response to Hurricane Ian (see 2209290055).
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"These are complex issues," Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said after the meeting when asked about the state of further orbital debris orders. She said with agreement reached on shortening the deorbiting window from 25 years to five, "now was a good time to act, rather than later." Minority Commissioner Brendan Carr after the meeting said he wasn't aware of significant differences of opinion among the commissioners on orbital debris. He repeated that orbital debris should be the purview of an agency with more space expertise (see 1811150028).
Webre said the approved order, which wasn't released, adds clarifying language about circumstances in which the agency would waive the five-year rule in the event of a failure or anomaly outside a satellite operator's control, and about when operators would need to file a license modification.
Orbital debris "is a matter of safety, security, sustainability -- and, yes, competition," Commissioner Geoffrey Starks tweeted after the vote. "We have a responsibility to manage debris risks successfully. By reducing demise times in LEO, we took an important step toward doing that today." Starks attended the meeting remotely from Romania and the ITU's Plenipotentiary Conference. That five-year deadline "clear[s] our skies for more innovation in the future," Rosenworcel tweeted after the meeting.
Warning of tragedy of the commons problems often resulting in crises, Commissioner Nathan Simington at the meeting said "we have waited too long before, and it has not always gone well." He said the U.S. can create a de facto unitary set of international rules by requiring compliance by domestic operators and foreign operators wanting U.S. access.
House Science, Space and Technology Committee leadership urged in a letter dated Tuesday that the agency postpone its vote to avoid "promulgat[ing] rules on this matter [which] could create uncertainty and potentially conflicting guidance." "The Commission does not have clear authority from Congress," wrote Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas; ranking member Frank Lucas, R-Okla.; Space subcommittee Chairman Don Beyer, D-Va.; and subcommittee ranking member Brian Babin, R-Texas. Without that authority, FCC action "will at the very least create confusion and undermine the Commission’s work, and at worst undermine U.S. economic competitiveness and leadership in space," they said.
The inmate calling order requires facilities with an average daily population of at least 50 to provide all telecom relay services and American Sign Language point-to-point video communications for deaf and hard of hearing individuals (see 2209280050). Starks said he hopes the FCC will “move quickly to apply this obligation to all facilities with incarcerated individuals” and eliminate the population threshold needed to trigger the requirement. An accompanying Further NPRM seeks comment on lowering the caps on ancillary service charges and rules for refunds for inactive accounts and on how the FCC can use the third mandatory data collection to set permanent inmate calling services rates (see 2201180075). "Every one of these steps is progress," said Rosenworcel: "We won't stop until the job is done." The item takes "strong steps to correct market failures in the inmate calling services market,” said Simington.
Commissioners cited Hurricane Ian during the EAS vote. The unanimous approval was expected (see 2209270060). With climate change "making storms more frequent, more dangerous, and more damaging," ensuring communications networks deliver the right emergency information at the right time "can keep communities safe," Rosenworcel said. The item ensures individuals with disabilities have better access to alerts by prioritizing internet-based common alerting protocol versions of EAS, said Carr.
The analog TV NPRM "is not the most glamorous type of infrastructure work, but it is vital," Simington said. With the elimination of analog operations and the incentive auction repack, some broadcast TV rules "are simply no longer relevant," Rosenworcel said, saying the Part 73 broadcasting rules update is "extremely glamorous." The commission told us it had updated the TVStudy interference analysis software.
Meeting Notebook
Noting meetings this week in Brussels with European Commission and EU members, Carr said "positive trends" are emerging toward Europe requiring Big Tech to pay a "fair share" toward costs of closing the digital divide. He said discussions are taking the place of consultations that would be needed to modify EU law to require such fair share payments. He said he also met with EC members on TikTok issues. Carr said TikTok needs to "come clean" about its data and how accessible it is to the Chinese government. He said he can't see any solution that doesn't involve divestiture. TikTok didn't comment.
Asked about the National Academies of Sciences' Ligado study results (see 2209090032), Rosenworcel said the agency is still doing a technical review of the study but said that in 2021, before becoming chair, she voted for staying the Ligado approval (see 2101200001). Carr said he has read only the report's highlights and plans to take "a deeper dive." But he said he hasn't seen anything that makes him question the amount of analysis the FCC has done, or its findings. "The issue has been decided," he said.
Though the FCC is launching a notice of inquiry on 12.7-13.25 GHz (see 2209200071), that band is "distinctly different" from the neighboring 12 GHz band, Rosenworcel said when asked about the significance of the NOI on the 12 GHz proceeding.
Carr continued to express disappointment in the FCC Wireline Bureau’s rejection of Starlink’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction long-form application (see 2209270069). “We made a decision at the FCC on the front end of the auction to set up the parameters” and allow lower orbit satellite providers to compete in the auction, Carr said. “The bureau's decision to reverse that looks a lot more like a reversal of that FCC decision to even allow a satellite provider to compete,” he said: “That is why I expressed my disagreement with it. I continue to feel that way.” Carr said he's “open to hearing different people's perspectives, but that is certainly my starting point.”