Reallocation of communications spectrum from satellite to mobile uses has been, and remains, an area of contention between the satellite and mobile industries. But reallocation over the past few decades has been nearly continuously in the direction of more mobile allocations, based on burgeoning mobile communications volume.
In the U.S. market, the 3.7 GHz to 4.2 GHz band is among the latest bands to be considered for a broader range of uses that preserver fixed satellite operations but also allow for greater fixed and mobile terrestrial use.
Those bands are adjacent to the Citizens Broadband Radio Service. The CBRS will use a novel “shared” approach to spectrum that has use cases including rural fixed wireless internet access, campus and enterprise private mobile networks.
Such moves seem possible now, at least in part, because existing satellite users seem less value in that particular block of spectrum, and believe they can profit financially by releasing use of such spectrum to new users willing to pay for use of the assets.
Some advocate other moves, using spectrum sharing, to open up the 6 GHz spectrum (5.925 to 7.125) for unlicensed use. That would essentially move many satellite users out of the “C band,” which has used the 4-GHZ range for downlinks and the 6-GHz band for uplinks.
That proposal, if adopted by the Federal Communications Commission, would free up 1700 megahertz of spectrum, including 500 megahertz for licensed use and up to 1200 MHz for unlicensed purposes.
No comments:
Post a Comment