Photo: NASA

The FCC has revised its satellite spectrum sharing rules, releasing a Report and Order on Nov. 15 to clarify how spectrum is shared between different satellite systems. The FCC said these revisions are meant to “promote market entry, regulatory certainty, and spectrum efficiency.” 

“The FCC has made real progress to modernize its space policies to ensure U.S. leadership,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Today’s update to our satellite spectrum sharing rules allows first movers to enjoy the advantage they’ve earned by daring to think big and take on risk, while also opening our skies to more competition.”

According to the FCC, this new Report and Order clarifies sharing between Non-Geostationary (NGSO) systems licensed in different processing rounds. It grants primary spectrum access to systems approved earlier, while aiming to allow new entrants to participate in an established, cooperative spectrum sharing structure.

One of the changes addressed is a long-term interference metric. The FCC adopts a 3% time-weighted average throughput degradation as a long-term interference protection criterion. According to the Report and Order, Amazon’s Kuiper, Viasat, Telesat, Intelsat, and SpaceX all supported the 3% average, but OneWeb advocated for a stricter metric. 

The new Report and Order also addresses short-term interference metric, and other interference metrics.