Satellite Operators Make Pitch for More Intense Use of 12.7 GHz Band

Given the huge growth the satellite industry is seeing and the spectrum needs coming from that growth, the FCC should expand satellite use of the 12.7-13.25 GHz band rather than reallocate it for terrestrial wireless use, Intelsat, SES, Hispasat, Eutelsat and Ovzon representatives told Space Bureau staffers, per a docket 22-352 filing Thursday. They said they can make use of the spectrum almost immediately while it would be "many years before terrestrial operators will even be ready to take up this spectrum at auction and to deploy actual service to the public." Terrestrial mobile use at scale in the 12.7 GHz band would create aggregate in-band interference to satellite operations exceeding levels that would allow co-primary service sharing of the band, they said. Terrestrial mobile would also disrupt adjacent-band direct broadcast satellite and non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite services, they said.