LightSquared Pushes for Opening of 1675-1680 MHz Band Used by NOAA to Commercial Sharing

LightSquared wants to open up the 1675-1680 MHz band used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for commercial wireless sharing. In a filing posted Thursday in FCC docket 12-340, the satellite company submitted an analysis it commissioned regarding NOAA's use of the band and results of a survey it conducted of end-users of NOAA data and services. LightSquared also said the FCC should issue a public notice seeking comment on the analysis, possible effects of commercial operations on non-NOAA users, and ways of addressing those effects -- all with the goal of an NPRM on the band in early 2016 regarding partial allocation of the spectrum for commercial use. That would help meet a goal in the Obama administration's 2010 memorandum pushing for the FCC and Commerce Department to jointly make 500 MHz of federal and nonfederal spectrum available for mobile and fixed wireless broadband, LightSquared said. The memo suggested a 10-year time frame. Commercial use of the spectrum would mean "lower wireless prices for consumers, more services by wireless companies and greater opportunities for innovation," LightSquared said, adding that any costs to NOAA users of getting data by alternative means "would be a small fraction of that amount." The analysis by Alion Science and Technology about the compatibility of commercial wireless with NOAA's use of the spectrum showed the two could coexist by relocating some NOAA radiosondes -- which contain atmospheric and temperature sensors and are attached to NOAA weather balloons -- and setting up protection and coordination zones, LightSquared said. The satellite company said it currently operates a network at 1670-1675 MHz, which it shares with NOAA sensor data links. LightSquared said it began talking this summer to users of NOAA data and products about potential effects. "Commercial LTE wireless operations in the 1,675-1,680 MHz band would have little or no impact on many non-NOAA users and ... reasonable alternative means exist for any users that might be impacted," LightSquared said. It said the FCC should seek input on a variety of issues, including what entities directly access NOAA data or services delivered via satellite that could feel effects of commercial transmissions over the spectrum, what other services could they employ for similar data or services, and how have they been affected by commercialization of nearby bands such as AWS-3. NOAA didn't comment.