FSS Deployment Limits in 17.8-18.3 GHz Band Unneeded, SpaceX Says

Allowing fixed satellite service allocation on a secondary basis in the 17.8-18.3 GHz band but limiting deployment to individually licensed earth stations is unwise and unnecessary, SpaceX said in an FCC docket 16-408 filing posted Thursday. It said non-geostationary satellite constellations would use the band for downlinks, so those can't cause interference to terrestrial fixed service in the band, and instead the NGSO earth station would be susceptible to FS transmission interference. It said such FS interference is unlikely since FS transmitters usually radiate in horizontal or near-horizontal directions using narrow-beam antennas, while NGSO receiver user terminals have low gain toward the horizon. Letting NGSO operators deploy blanket-licensed user terminals in the band on a secondary basis aligns with FCC goals of spectrum efficiency, it said.