12 GHz NPRM Gets Dish Support, SpaceX Criticisms

Dish Network and SpaceX disagreed about the 12 GHz NPRM on circulation, in RM-11768 ex parte postings Wednesday. Dish representatives told aides to FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington that terrestrial flexible use in the band, coordinated with DBS providers and terrestrial broadband operators, "is readily manageable." It said an NPRM would let the FCC determine means of coexistence between satellite and terrestrial services in the band. It said approval of SpaceX's request for lower orbits for 2,824 planned satellites operating in the 12 GHz band can't come until SpaceX shows how it will satisfy the equivalent power flux density limits that protect DBS from interference. SpaceX told a Simington aide multichannel video and data distribution service licensees' own technical studies show the mobile rights they want in the band can't coexist with incumbent operators. SpaceX allies also opposed the NPRM. Connected Nation said it could hurt investment in low earth orbit satellite broadband, "artificially limiting what could otherwise be a true game changer for rural America." North Carolina State University's Friday Institute for Educational Innovation said it "would hate to see a last minute change in spectrum policy that hinders the nascent LEO technology."