Satellite Working to Develop Ka-band Rules Around the World

The rapid and continued growth of Ka-band satellite services has several satellite companies and organizations working to develop rules both at the national level around the world and within the ITU, said industry executives. With numerous satellites already including Ka-band capabilities and many more to come, the companies and groups are working to come up with rules to facilitate Ka-band development, executives say. A Global VSAT Forum (GVF) white paper released Thursday describes some hoped-for rules and a “best practices guide” for national Ka-band regulation.

Multiple national open proceedings on spectrum sharing are under way in South America, the Middle East, Asia and Europe, said David Hartshorn, secretary general of the GVF, in an interview. GVF is directly engaged with national regulators currently considering “all their options” for spectrum sharing, he said. “We are getting out in front of this trend with a global consensus view” of spectrum for satellite services in this band, he said. GVF has begun sending the white paper to “every government in the world,” and has engaged at the national level, the regional level, and globally at the ITU, said Hartshorn.

"The Ka band is of the utmost strategic importance to this industry” said the white paper. But many of the rules of the band have yet to be written for the nascent services, said a satellite industry lawyer. The FCC, for instance, hasn’t really taken up the issue of mobile Ka-band because there’s not yet a real offering, he said. The lawyer said to expect something filed to begin a rulemaking on the issue within a year, though it would be unlikely to be controversial. Mobile Ka-band rules will likely eventually follow the example set for mobile uses of the Ku-band, he said.

Elsewhere at the national level, it’s most important that all countries recognize the interference possibilities if they're forced to share spectrum with certain applications, according to the GVF paper. The best path forward is ‘blanket licensing’ that allows for a single license for use of large number of user-terminals, the paper said. Such a policy reduces the cost and administrative burden of dealing with the authorization of many terminals and should be used particularly in the band’s segments at 29.5-30 GHz and 19.7-20.2 GHz where there’s “insignificant risk of interference” with other services, said GVF.

Ka-band spectrum fees are of particular worry, the paper said. GVF urged national regulators to avoid a Ku-band spectrum licensing model, which would lead to very high fees for use of the band, the paper said. “Licensing fees should not be used as a source of profit for the government,” said the white paper. Such costs will be passed on to the consumer and hurt progress in the industry, it said.

One major question is how mobile use of the Ka-band will be authorized. That’s especially important to Inmarsat, with its coming Ka-band Global Xpress network, said Diane Cornell, Inmarsat’s vice president for government affairs. Inmarsat has been discussing the issue of Ka-band mobility in many countries around the world for over a year, as well as working on the issue with the ITU and regional bodies. While many countries will look to the ITU or standards bodies for guidance, national authorizations will be needed for these satellite offerings in individual countries, she said.