CTIA's High Band Road Map One-Sidedly Favors Terrestrial, SIA Says

CTIA's proposed high-frequency band road map (see 1707140055) would unjustifiably and unsustainably do away with the FCC's long-held technology-neutral stance by framing 5G as a terrestrial wireless-only neighborhood, said the Satellite Industry Association in a docket 14-177 filing posted Monday. SIA said a variety of satellite systems planned for bands above 37 GHz will let operators be part of the 5G biosphere, and CTIA's push for identifying bands solely for terrestrial wireless would harm competition and innovation among and between tech platforms. SIA said the 40 and 48 GHz bands need to be maintained as primary for core satellite operations, though terrestrial operations could use them on a secondary, noninterference basis, and there's "significant potential" for sharing the 24 GHz, 47 GHz and 50 GHz satellite uplink and downlink bands with terrestrial services. SIA said the CTIA road map would turn over to terrestrial wireless a variety of bands used by satellite, such as the 29 GHz band -- used by local multipoint distribution service stations and non-geostationary orbit satellite service feeder links. CTIA said Tuesday its road map "offers policymakers a balanced path to making much needed spectrum available for 5G services, while also providing satellite operators an opportunity to access high band spectrum.”