50.2-71 GHz Realignment

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 2

[ET Docket 99-261; FCC 99-183]

50.2-71 GHz Realignment

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: This document proposes to amend the United States Table of

Frequency Allocations with respect to the 50.2-50.4 GHz and 51.4-71.0

GHz bands. The allocations proposed in this instant proceeding would

provide additional spectrum to the inter-satellite service (``ISS'')

and to the fixed and mobile services while continuing to provide an

acceptable environment for passive spaceborne sensor measurements of

atmospheric temperature.

DATES: Comments must be filed on or before September 7, 1999, and reply

comments must be filed on or before September 22, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments concerning this proposed rule to the

Commission's Secretary, Magalie Roman Salas, Office of the Secretary,

Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street S.W., Washington,

D.C. 20554.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Mooring, Office of Engineering and

Technology, (202) 418-2450, TTY (202) 418-2989, e-mail:

[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Notice

of Proposed Rule Making, ET Docket 99-261, FCC 99-183, adopted July 16,

1999, and released July 23, 1999. The full text of this document is

available for inspection and copying during regular business hours in

the FCC Reference Center (Room TW-A306), 445 12th Street S.W.,

Washington, DC. The complete text of this document also may be

purchased from the Commission's duplication contractor, International

Transcription Service, Inc., (202) 857-3800, 1231 20th Street, NW,

Washington, DC 20036.

Summary of Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

1. We propose:

To provide a net gain of 900 megahertz of spectrum

allocated on a primary basis for non-Government ISS by allocating the

65-71 GHz band to that service and by deleting non-Government ISS

allocations from the 56.9-57.0 GHz and 59-64 GHz bands;

To allocate the 64-65 GHz band to the Government ISS on a

primary basis;

To require that the existing Government and non-Government

ISS allocations in the 54.25-56.90 GHz and 57.0-58.2 GHz bands and the

existing Government ISS allocation in the 59.0-59.3 GHz band be used

exclusively for geostationary satellite-to-geostationary satellite

communications, subject to a power flux-density (``p.f.d.'') limit

designed to protect passive sensor operations;

To provide a net gain of 2.27 gigahertz of spectrum

allocated on a primary basis for Government and non-Government fixed

and mobile services by allocating the 51.4-52.6 GHz, 58.2-59.0 GHz, and

64-65 GHz bands to these services, by deleting the unused fixed and

mobile service allocations from the 50.2-50.4 GHz and 54.25-55.78 GHz

bands, and by upgrading the allocation status of these services in the

65-66 GHz band from secondary to primary;

To specify that the 57-59 GHz and 64-66 GHz bands will be

available for use by Government and non-Government unlicensed devices;

and

To allocate the 59.0-59.3 GHz band to the Government and

non-Government earth exploration-satellite (passive) and space research

(passive) services and to delete unneeded passive sensor allocations

from the 51.4-52.6 GHz and 64-65 GHz bands.

2. The proposals are part of the Commission's continuing effort to

facilitate the commercialization of ``millimeter wave'' spectrum, and

are consistent with the international allocation changes that the

United States sought and obtained for this frequency range at the 1997

World Radiocommunication Conference (``WRC-97''). Adoption of these

proposals would allocate the spectrum that Government and non-

Government satellite users require to interconnect their satellites

within their respective networks. More specifically, the ISS proposals

are expected to provide a wide range of fixed-satellite service

(``FSS'') and mobile-satellite service systems, including both

geostationary orbit (``GSO'') and non-geostationary orbit (``NGSO'')

systems, with the additional spectrum needed to complete their end-to-

end communications service. For example, using the ISS allocations

proposed, Ka-band FSS licensees could inter-link their broadband

multimedia satellites, thereby permitting the provision of innovative

high-speed Internet-like services on a regional and global basis. Our

proposals also provide the spectrum that new licensed fixed and mobile

services and unlicensed devices are anticipated to require. For

example, Personal Communication Service (``PCS'') and cellular

licensees could use unlicensed spectrum in the 57-59 GHz frequency

range to connect nearby base stations to one another, which would be

especially useful in high-density urban areas. We tentatively find that

these additional allocations can be made while, at the same time,

ongoing passive sensor operations--used to obtain weather and climate

data in all weather conditions--are fully protected. We also

tentatively find that these proposals would further our efforts towards

achieving the overarching goal of section 706 of the Telecommunications

Act of 1996, to ``encourage the deployment on a reasonable and timely

basis of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans . . .

by utilizing measures that promote competition in the local

telecommunications market.''

Inter-Satellite Service

3. We propose, in accordance with international allocation

decisions taken at WRC-97, to allocate the 64-71 GHz band to the ISS

domestically. We tentatively find that the feasibility of ISS and

existing services sharing the 64-71 GHz band has been clearly shown by

various studies. At the request of NTIA, we further propose to delete

the non-Government ISS allocation from the 56.9-57.0 GHz and 59-64 GHz

bands and to allocate the 64-65 GHz segment for exclusive Government

ISS use and the 65-71 GHz segment for exclusive non-Government ISS use.

This domestic allocation split addresses two concerns.

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First, there is a well-established and pressing demand for commercial

inter-satellite link spectrum, which we believe necessitates a

substantial ISS allocation that can be used by all commercial satellite

systems. Furthermore, although commercial systems have requested

spectrum below 65 GHz, NTIA asserts that Federal Government ISS

operations in the 59-64 GHz band are not compatible with proposed

commercial ISS uses of this band. Second, an allocation at 64-65 GHz

for Government only use would compensate Federal users for the loss of

flexibility in the 59-64 GHz ISS band that will occur as a result of

the WRC-97 decision to limit the use of the 59.0-59.3 GHz band to

geostationary satellite-to-geostationary satellite communications. The

net result of these proposals is that commercial satellite operators

would have exclusive use of 6 gigahertz of primary ISS spectrum at 65-

71 GHz and Federal agencies would have exclusive use of 6.1 gigahertz

of primary ISS spectrum at 56.9-57.0 GHz and 59-65 GHz. We observe that

the shared and commercial exclusive ISS spectrum could be used, for

example, by Ka-band licensees for satellite-to-satellite

communications, making their systems more efficient and enabling them

to provide some of the advanced telecommunications capabilities that

section 706 of the Communications Act envisions.

4. We also propose to adopt international footnote S5.556A

domestically. This footnote limits use of the 54.25-56.90 GHz, 57.0-

58.2 GHz, and 59.0-59.3 GHz ISS bands to GSO satellite transmissions

that comply with a maximum p.f.d. limit at altitudes of 1000 kilometers

(approximately 621.4 miles) or less above the Earth's surface of -147

dBW per square meter per 100 megahertz for all angles of arrival. This

proposal reflects the results of studies that have shown these

technical restrictions to be necessary to prevent ISS transmissions in

these bands from causing harmful interference to passive sensor

reception in the 54.25-58.20 GHz band. We tentatively find that,

although adoption of footnote S5.556A explicitly precludes NGSO

networks from accessing this 4.15 gigahertz of ISS spectrum, the 6

gigahertz we are proposing to allocate at 65-71 GHz for exclusive

commercial use is sufficient to accommodate all pending requests by

NGSO licensees for ISS spectrum. We request comment on this tentative

conclusion.

5. With regard to the 56.9-57.0 GHz band, we observe that WRC-97

limited ISS use of this spectrum through footnote S5.558A, which

permits only GSO inter-satellite links and transmissions from NGSO

satellites in high-Earth orbit to those in low-Earth orbit. However,

Federal agencies, which currently operate in the band, have determined

that these restrictions must be loosened slightly by also permitting

transmissions between satellites in geostationary orbit and those in

high-Earth orbit and between satellites in geostationary orbit and

those in low-Earth orbit. Since we have previously proposed that the

use of the ISS allocation in the 56.9-57.0 GHz band be limited

exclusively to Federal agencies, this expanded use would be authorized

under a new Government footnote. We request comment on all of the above

proposals.

Fixed and Mobile Services/Unlicensed Devices

6. We propose to allocate the 51.4-52.6 GHz and 58.2-59.0 GHz bands

to Government and non-Government fixed and mobile services on a primary

basis. We also propose to make the 64-66 GHz band available to the

Government and non-Government fixed and mobile (except aeronautical

mobile) services on a primary basis by allocating the 64-65 GHz segment

for these purposes and by upgrading the status of the secondary fixed

and mobile services in the 65-66 GHz segment. In order to protect

ongoing passive sensor reception in the 50.2-50.4 GHz and 54.25-55.78

GHz bands from future disruption, we propose to delete the unused

Government and non-Government fixed and mobile service allocations from

these bands. We also propose to delete the requirement that

aeronautical mobile station transmissions not cause harmful

interference to ISS operations in the 54.25-55.78 band and to add this

requirement in the 66-71 GHz band. Finally, we observe that any future

land mobile services in the 66-71 GHz band will be required to protect

the new non-Government ISS service--as well as the existing space

radiocommunication services--from harmful interference.

7. These fixed and mobile service proposals have been enabled by:

(1) NTIA's finding that the 51.4-52.6 GHz and 64-65 GHz bands are no

longer required for Government passive sensor operations, and (2) ITU-R

studies that have shown that passive sensors can share with fixed and

mobile services at frequencies above 55.78 GHz due to the high

atmospheric attenuation that exists. These studies found that, at lower

frequencies, undesirable constraints would be required on the fixed and

mobile services and the meteorological community would still receive

interference that could effect weather forecasts and give false results

to measurements of warming of the Earth. Thus, our related proposal to

delete the fixed and mobile service allocations from the 50.2-50.4 GHz

and 54.25-55.78 GHz bands will provide exclusive spectrum for the

measurement of atmospheric temperature using passive spaceborne sensors

in bands where sharing with other services is not feasible. In sum,

these proposals, if adopted, would result in a net gain of 2.27

gigahertz of primary spectrum for fixed and mobile services, while

eliminating the need for constraints on the parameters of fixed and

mobile systems since these services would not share allocations with

the passive services below 55.78 GHz. We request comment on all of the

above proposals.

8. We also observe that WRC-97 adopted new footnote S5.547, which

makes the 51.4-52.6 GHz, 55.78-59.00 GHz and 64-66 GHz bands

``available for high-density applications in the fixed service''

(``HDFS''). We request comment on whether footnote S5.547 should be

adopted domestically, what the ramifications of such an action would

be, and whether, in order to assure spectrum availability for HDFS, the

bands should not be allocated to the mobile service.

9. Unlicensed Devices. In 1996, we made the 59-64 GHz band

available for unlicensed devices under part 15 of Commission's Rules.

We observe that the 55.78-59 GHz and 64-66 GHz bands are adjacent to

this unlicensed band, that both of these bands would, if our proposals

are adopted, be allocated to the fixed and mobile services on a primary

basis, and that, furthermore, both of these bands could be made

available for use by HDFS.

10. We also observe that the European Radiocommunications Committee

has adopted a Recommendation entitled ``Radio Frequency Channel

Arrangement for Fixed Services Operating in the Band 57.0-59.0 GHz

Which Do Not Require Frequency Planning,'' but that this Recommendation

has not yet been implemented. This Recommendation states, inter alia,

``that the high frequency reuse achievable in the oxygen absorption

band reduces the requirement for frequency planning techniques and

offers the possibility of deregulated telecommunications environment

within CEPT [the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications

Administrations] for various low power, low cost and short range radio-

relays.'' In addition, it is our understanding that there are ongoing

discussions in Europe concerning unlicensed broadband HDFS

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use of the 57-59 GHz band. We anticipate a similar need in the United

States. Specifically, we believe that PCS, cellular, and other mobile

service licensees will require unlicensed spectrum in the 57-59 GHz

frequency range to connect nearby base stations to one another,

especially in high-density urban areas, i.e., ``hot spots.''

11. We tentatively find that the 57-59 GHz and 64-66 GHz bands are

well suited for use by unlicensed devices, and accordingly, we propose

to make these bands available for use by unlicensed devices under part

15 of Commission's Rules. We base this proposal on the propagation

characteristics of the bands, and on the technical material previously

presented by the Millimeter Wave Communications Working Group in the

Above 40 GHz proceeding. We tentatively find that licensing is not

necessary because of the limited potential for interference due to

oxygen absorption and the narrow beamwidth of point-to-point antennas

likely to be operating in this range. We also tentatively find that

low-power unlicensed use of 57-59 GHz and 64-66 GHz bands is an ideal

use of this Government/non-Government shared spectrum because this

proposed use further reduces the chance of harmful interference to in-

band sensors. We request comment on these proposals. We also request

comment on whether the 55.78-57.00 GHz segment should be made available

for use by unlicensed devices or whether this segment should be made

available for licensed fixed and mobile services.

12. We are not proposing technical rules for unlicensed use of the

57-59 GHz and 64-66 GHz bands in this proceeding, except that operation

in the 57-59 GHz band would not be permitted on aircraft or satellites.

Instead, we intend to initiate a separate rulemaking to address

appropriate technical rules. Nonetheless, we invite comment looking

toward this further rulemaking on the technical rules needed for the

spectrally efficient operation of unlicensed devices in these band. For

example, should we simply employ the existing technical rules and

etiquette from the 59-64 GHz band throughout an extended 57-66 GHz

unlicensed band, or should we develop different technical rules for the

57-59 GHz and 64-66 GHz bands? If we adopt different technical rules,

should either of the bands be channelized, and should the use of

listen-before-transmit etiquette be required on all or some of these

channels? We request comment on all of the above proposals.

Passive Sensors

13. Satellite-borne passive microwave sensors are used to obtain

atmospheric temperature profiles that are of utmost importance to

weather forecasting and to climate studies, and these sensor

measurements can only be obtained in the vicinity of unique molecular

oxygen resonance frequencies located between 50 GHz and 70 GHz. WRC-97

allocated the 59.0-59.3 GHz band to the earth exploration-satellite

(passive) and space research (passive) services on a primary basis and

deleted unneeded earth exploration-satellite (passive) and space

research (passive) service allocations from the 51.4-52.6 GHz and 64-65

GHz bands. WRC-97 also modified the text of footnote 907 (re-numbered

as footnote S5.340) in order to delete the prohibition on emissions

from the 51.40-54.25 GHz, 58.2-59.0 GHz, and 64-65 GHz bands and to add

the prohibition on emissions to the 50.2-50.4 GHz and 52.60-54.25 GHz

bands. In order to implement domestically the WRC-97 revision of

footnote S5.340, NTIA requests that the text of footnote US246 be

modified to reflect these international rule changes. Similarly, NTIA

requests that the text of footnote US263 be modified to specify that

passive sensor operations in the 56.26-58.20 GHz band (rather than the

50.2-50.4 GHz and 54.25-58.20 GHz bands) will not receive protection

from fixed and mobile services operating in accordance with the Table

of Frequency Allocations. We agree that these WRC-97 amendments and the

consequential changes to United States footnotes adequately provide for

passive sensor operations and therefore propose to implement these

changes domestically. We request comment on all of the above proposals.

Other Matters

14. Internationally, radio astronomy observations may be carried

out under national arrangements in the 51.40-54.25 GHz, 58.2-59.0 GHz,

and 64-65 GHz bands per footnote 906 (revised and re-numbered as

footnote S5.556). In the United States, these bands are allocated to

the Government and non-Government radio astronomy (``RA'') service on a

primary basis. Recently, the coordinator for Task 2 of ITU-R Joint

Rapporteurs Group 7D-9D stated that:

there is no known usage of [the 51.4-52.6 GHz, 55.78-59.00 GHz, and

64-66 GHz bands] by the RA community (potentially due to atmospheric

absorption) and no studies on potential sharing have been done to

date. Even if radio astronomical use were to develop, there should

not be any problems with radio astronomy stations sharing [these]

band[s] with HDFS since RA use of these bands must already be

coordinated with the fixed service within individual

Administrations. Therefore, sharing between HDFS and RA is a

domestic issue.

NTIA requests that the radio astronomy service allocation be deleted

from the 51.40-54.25 GHz and 64-65 GHz bands and that international

footnote S5.556 be added to these bands. NTIA did not propose any

change to the radio astronomy service allocation at 58.2-59.0 GHz. We

tentatively find that radio astronomy use of the 51.40-54.25 GHz and

64-65 GHz bands is a domestic issue that is best authorized under a

national arrangement. Accordingly, we propose to delete radio astronomy

service allocation from the 51.40-54.25 GHz and 64-65 GHz bands and to

add international footnote S5.556 to these bands. We solicit comment on

these proposals and on the specifics of such national arrangements. For

example, should RA observatories that may need protection in the future

be listed in a US footnote?

15. Finally, we propose to correct a typographical error in the

Allocation Table by adding a reference to footnote S5.559 in the 59-64

GHz band. This reference has inadvertently been dropped from the Table.

16. Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis. Section 603 of the

Regulatory Flexibility Act, as amended,1 requires that the

Commission prepare an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis in notice

and comment rulemaking proceedings, unless we certify that ``the rule

will not, if promulgated, have a significant economic impact on a

significant number of small entities.'' 2 In this Notice of

Proposed Rule Making, we propose, inter alia, to reallocate spectrum

that will result in net gain of 2.27 gigahertz of primary spectrum for

fixed and mobile services, and to also designate 4 gigahertz of

spectrum at 57-59 GHz and 64-66 GHz for unlicensed devices. We believe

that this net increase in fixed and mobile spectrum and the designation

of new unlicensed bands will provide new opportunities for small

entities, without any known harmful effects. Accordingly, we hereby

certify that the proposed reallocations will not, if promulgated, have

significant economic impact on a significant number of small entities.

The Secretary shall send a copy of this Notice of Proposed Rule Making,

including the Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, to the Chief

Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration in accordance

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with section 603(a) of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 603(a).

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\1\ See 47 U.S.C. 603.

\2\ Id. at Sec. 605(b).

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17. Ex Parte Rules--Permit-But-Disclose Proceedings. This is a

permit-but-disclose notice and comment rule making proceeding. Ex parte

presentations are permitted, except during any Sunshine Agenda period,

provided they are disclosed as provided in the Commission's rules. See

generally 47 CFR 1.1202(a), 1.1203, and 1.1206.

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 2

Comunications equipment, radio.

Federal Communications Commission.

Magalie Roman Salas,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 99-20692 Filed 8-10-99; 8:45 am]

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