The Satellite Users Interference Reduction Group (SUIRG) has asked the FCC to reject a petition to allow terrestrial fixed services into the Ku-band.
In a recently filed petition, the Utilities Telecom Council (UTC) requested that the FCC allow terrestrial fixed services to operate in the crucial 14GHz-14.5GHz band. The petition requests that the FCC begin a proceeding to set up rules to allow shared, secondary terrestrial fixed service use of the band by point-to-point, point-to-multipoint and temporary fixed stations for critical infrastructure industry communications.
“The negative impact to fixed and mobile satellite-based services would be catastrophic,” said SUIRG President Robert Ames. The band currently is used exclusively for satellite newsgathering (SNG), VSAT and mobile satellite services.
According to Ames, the UTC petition fails to show that allowing terrestrial fixed services into the band won’t cause harmful interference to incumbent users of the spectrum. The UTC provided the commission with “a flawed analysis” of the impact of the new use on incumbents, he said.
Previous tests and analyses of similar spectrum sharing in the C-band by the satellite industry revealed such use “will cause unacceptable levels of interference” to satellite operations and “will expose the UTC terminals to interference that will be incompatible with the critical nature of the service,” he added.
For more information, visit www.suirg.org.
