FCC Revises Satellite System Spectrum Sharing Rules

The Federal Communications Commission has voted to revise its satellite spectrum sharing rules to promote market entry, regulatory certainty, and spectrum efficiency. The Report and Order released on November 15th refines the FCC’s non-geostationary satellite orbit, fixed-satellite service (NGSO FSS) spectrum sharing regime that provides clarity regarding sharing between systems licensed in different processing rounds, granting primary spectrum access to systems approved earlier, while enabling new entrants to participate in an established, cooperative spectrum sharing structure. Specifically, the Report and Order clarifies certain details of the degraded throughput methodology used in compatibility analyses by NGSO FSS system licensees authorized through later processing rounds to show they can operate compatibly with, and protect, systems authorized through earlier processing rounds.