Thirty years ago, it would have been unthinkable to reallocate C-band downlinks for mobility uses. First of all, the mobility business was not big enough to require use of that spectrum.
But at least some of the C-band downlink spectrum is going to move to mobile use. The big question is how much of the total C-band downlink capacity will be reallocated.
In 1983, mobile phones cost about $4,000 and usage charges were high. So there was not too much demand for capacity to support mobile phone use.
Also, programmers to the U.S. cable TV industry in the early 1980s were about to embark on a major expansion into satellite-delivered programming, relying on the C-band.
Much has changed since the early 1980s. Satellite delivery now has shifted to Ku-band, and is adding the Ka-band. Even satellite broadcasters might find they are better off monetizing the 4-GHz C-band spectrum, especially if they can get paid for their costs of relocating to other bands.
Spectrum harmonization, where countries agree to use the same spectrum for the same purposes, seems always to be an issue, and that is true for the 4-GHz portions of the C-band spectrum traditionally used for satellite downlinks.
There is growing interest in global harmonization of the 3.4 GHz to 4.2 GHz region for 5G mobile networks. Of course, that means clearing C-band satellite users from that region. And in the United States, there is the further complication of the Federal Communications Commission having allocated 150 MHz aroundt 3.6 GHz for Citizens Broadband Radio Service.
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