Iridium Urges Expanded Sharing in Big LEO Band

Iridium continued to urge the FCC to grant its revised proposal to designate 1616 MHz-1617.5 MHz for shared use between Iridium and Globalstar. After meetings with Globalstar and the International Bureau, it was brought to light that Iridium is using the existing shared spectrum without any evidence of harmful interference to Globalstar’s mobile satellite services, "and that this is occurring under conditions where Globalstar claims to be heavily using the spectrum in question,” Iridium said in supplemental comments in docket 13-213. The additional spectrum requested by Iridium would enable it “to maximize the effectiveness of its current- and next-generation satellite systems and facilitate Iridium’s continued development and introduction of new advanced services and expansion into new markets,” it said. If the FCC approves Globalstar’s terrestrial low-power service (TLPS), there can be little question that Globalstar’s use of the L-band spectrum “will be reduced and unlikely to ever be heavy in nature once TLPS is deployed across the country,” Iridium said.