A 2015 budget request from the Senate Appropriations...

A 2015 budget request from the Senate Appropriations Committee includes support for an auction or assignment of the 1675-1680 MHz band. The committee released the budget report last week (http://1.usa.gov/1rRQhMG). The spectrum band is used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “which NOAA currently uses for weather balloon communications,” the report said. LightSquared asked the FCC to issue an allocation NPRM on shared commercial and federal use of that band (CD April 16 p9). LightSquared completed testing of wireless operations in the band in an effort to allow it to move forward with its stalled terrestrial network plan. The committee report could be a “positive sign” for LightSquared’s spectrum sharing plan, a satellite industry professional said. The committee called for an “expeditious relocation of NOAA’s operations to a different radio frequency band,” it said. NOAA is exploring the feasibility of relocating radiosonde operations from 1675-1680 MHz to 400 MHz “in order to accommodate terrestrial broadband transmitters,” NTIA said in its progress report on spectrum usage plans also released last week (http://1.usa.gov/TnQgki).