Mobile Satellite Spectrum Moves To Center Stage In US Wireless Race

The US has uncharacteristically become the 4G world leader, not just in its early mass scale de- ployments, but also its introduction of new business models such as wholesale-only. One of the interesting side effects has been the promotion of mobile satellite spectrum from an asset mainly associated with costly failures and bankruptcies, to a driver of change and 4G progress. In a month when LightSquared – running LTE in MSS bands – finally signed its deal with Sprint, and Dish Network emerged as the stalking horse bidder for TerreStar’s similar frequencies, it was clear that these bands had finally found their role in expanding the pool available for 4G, as well as enhancing the difficult satellite model. Indeed, there were even fears that MSS spectrum will suffer a shortage more commonly predicted in the terrestrial wireless bands.

Focal Points:

• Tom Choi, CEO of Asia Broadcast Satellite, told Telecoms Europe that satellite operators were being squeezed by the encroachment of mobile broadband into the C-Band. “We see a big issue with spectrum scarcity in the global GEO arc – it’s finite and it can’t be replicated,” he said. “You can reuse it with spot beams, but it’s still finite and everyone is looking to expand their business.” In 2007, the satellite sector unsuccessfully lobbied the ITU World Radio communication Conference to prevent mobile broadband operators from using satellite spectrum or even the 3.5GHz frequencies, which raised interference concerns for the C-Band.
• Of course, it isn’t just MSS spectrum that is attracting attention and high prices. The lower the frequency, the more valuable licenses are seen to be in the US, although the rising importance of femtocells for indoor penetration, and small cells for metrozones, will make the propagation limitations of higher bands less serious. For now, though, that fact has not hit home with spectrum speculators, as seen in the failure of Clearwire or, before it, NextWave to sell 2.5GHz assets. One operator that may well have spectrum to sell is Cox Communications, which decided recently to axe plans to build its own 3G network, and to rely on a wholesale deal with Sprint instead. Cox may keep the frequencies as an asset or even decide to build its own LTE in future, but according to Bloomberg, president Pat Essar is keen to sell the networks it had already constructed, together with its licenses.

Such disputes highlight the attractiveness of some satellite bands for mobile operators, and regulators such as the FCC, eager to free up more spectrum, have recently been willing to be flexible in this area to promote new and competitive services – rather than leaving huge swathes of mo- bile satellite frequencies to an MSS model that has been repeatedly found unprofitable. The most obvious example was the granting of a waiver to LightSquared, allowing it to support terrestrial-only devices in its MSS spectrum, as well as satellite or hybrid products. Previously, the biggest breakthrough in the MSS world was the creation of technologies, notably ATC, to allow hybrid terrestrial/satellite services, which improve the cost base and business model of carriers in these bands, as well as opening the way to new mobile competitors. The FCC and other regulators welcomed and approved these developments, and the LightSquared ruling was just an extension of the same thinking.