Broadcasters, Satellite Operators Align Against Reallocation of C-Band Spectrum for Mobile Broadband
Broadcasters and satellite operators are lobbying together against reallocation by the Nov. 2-27, 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15) of the 3.7-4.2 GHz C-band to wireless services. The World Broadcasting Unions (WBU) has said it backs satellite operators’ opposition to any change to the current spectrum allocation in the C-band or extended C-band in the fixed satellite service (FSS) because they're “essential” to broadcasting operations around the world. Mobile operators are pushing for shared use of the band.
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WBU addressed WRC-15 agenda item 1.1, which deals with studies on frequency-related matters on international mobile telecom (IMT) and other terrestrial mobile broadband applications. The C-band and UHF band (470-694/698 MHz), among others, are under consideration for wireless services. WBU, the coordinating body for broadcasting unions such as the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), said last month it doesn’t support any change to current allocations in the C-band, FSS or UHF bands. Its position “has been supported by spectrum studies both of UHF and C-band frequencies which have demonstrated that major interference to broadcast operations would result from sharing in these bands with IMT,” it said.
The C-band is used for FSS services primarily to distribute content from network centers, NABA said in a news release supporting the WBU position (http://bit.ly/1o6fvyW). Losing part of the spectrum, or sharing it with mobile operators, degrades broadcasting services and future opportunities, said NABA Director-General Michael McEwen. The C-band “has been the workhorse of the satellite communications industry for many decades,” wrote Patrick van Niftrik, SES vice president-spectrum management & development for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, in an Aug. 4 blog post (http://bit.ly/Y4uJ2o). Millions of households globally depend directly or indirectly on the band to deliver TV programming, he said.
Mobile operators said the band should be shared between mobile and broadcast TV services. While operators recognize “the vital importance of terrestrial and satellite broadcast services,” a portion of the C-band “can be -- and has already been in many parts of the world -- made available for mobile broadband as satellite companies increasingly use more cost-effective higher frequency bands (e.g. Ka and Ku bands),” GSMA Senior Director-Spectrum Policy Wladimir Bocquet told us. The C-band “will be vital to solve the mobile broadband capacity challenges as data traffic continues to rise significantly,” he said. There is “significant evidence showing the C-band and UHF bands can be shared between mobile and broadcast TV services,” Bocquet said. The ITU has been studying which bands could support mobile broadband in the future without causing interference with other services, and the C-band and sub-700 MHz UHF band “both passed this test,” he said.
On spectrum matters, the satellite and broadcast communities have cooperated for many years, and through WBU organizations such as the International Satellite Operations Group, that cooperation has extended to many other operational areas of interest to both, WBU’s McEwen said. The WBU enjoys the support of satellite companies that are affiliate members of NABA (Eutelsat America, Inmarsat, Intelsat, SES and Viasat), and together they've worked on C-band issues in the ITU, he said.
"There is an obvious common interest between the broadcasters and the satellite industry in keeping the C-band spectrum allocation unchanged,” said Darko Ratkaj, EBU senior project manager-technology and innovation. Both sectors did studies, independently, “which show that the estimated future demand for mobile is greatly overestimated,” he told us. EBU and WBU have been in contact to bring those results to recent ITU working group meetings, but he’s “not aware of any initiative to extend the joint efforts beyond the ITU,” Ratkaj said. “They both may benefit from the cooperation in the ITU process."
This is a case of “working together against a common enemy,” said Richard Womersley, spectrum consulting director for LS telcom, which provides integrated spectrum management systems. Terrestrial broadcasters and satellite operators are under pressure to relinquish spectrum for the mobile industry, so by making joint statements about satellite and broadcast spectrum, they're putting up a united front, he said. “It tends to mean that both sides, who are relatively natural allies but who don’t have a history of working together, will benefit from each other’s lobbying.”