PUBLIC NOTICE Federal Communications Commission 445 12th St., S.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov TTY: 1-888-835-5322 DA 10-1035 Released: June 4, 2010 OFFICE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY REQUESTS INFORMATION ON USE OF 1675 – 1710 MHz BAND ET Docket No. 10-123 Comment Date: June 28, 2010 By the Chief, Office of Engineering and Technology The National Broadband Plan recommends that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should make 500 megahertz of spectrum available for broadband use within the next 10 years, including 300 megahertz between 225 MHz and 3.7 GHz for mobile use in the next five years.1 The Office of Engineering and Technology has engaged in discussions with the Office of Spectrum Management, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), to begin examining various frequency bands that may be suitable for mobile broadband use. NTIA has preliminarily identified the 1675-1710 MHz band for such use and is examining the impact on its incumbent federal users. By this Public Notice, we seek information to help us better comprehend the current use of the 1675-1710 MHz band by non-federal entities and better understand its potential utility for broadband. The 1675-1710 MHz band is allocated on a co-primary basis for federal and non-federal use for the Meteorological Aids Service and the Meteorological Satellite Service (Space-to-earth). Specifically, this band is used for downlinks from certain weather satellites and radiosondes (weather balloons) that are administered by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA provides these services for weather forecasting, tracking of hurricanes and other storms, prediction of flooding and drought conditions, and warning against other hazards to life and property. We expect that this band is relatively lightly used, both geographically and temporally, and thus could be shared by others. We seek comment on the utility of the 1675-1710 MHz band of spectrum for wireless broadband services, and approaches to making the band available for such uses. It may be possible that reception of the weather satellite downlink transmissions could occur at a relatively small number of sites and be distributed via terrestrial services, such as over the Internet or other managed services. Thus, with regard to incumbent satellite receive-only stations, we seek comment on the extent to which and manner in which non-federal users directly access federally authorized Meteorological Satellite Service space station downlink transmissions. We also seek comment on the extent to which non-federal users directly 1 Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan, Recommendation 5.8, p.86 (FCC, 2010). The National Broadband Plan is available at http://www.broadband.gov/plan/. 2 access transmissions from radiosondes. Also, it may be feasible for radiosondes to operate using substantially less bandwidth than they currently do, freeing spectrum for other uses, or for them to use an alternative technology or relocate to other spectrum. Although the 1675-1710 MHz band is co-allocated for non-federal use, the Commission's database shows no active licensees in the spectrum. Non-federal entities such as universities, private sector weather forecasters and others are thought to employ receive-only stations for reception of Meteorological Satellite Service space station downlink transmissions, and in this case an FCC authorization for receive- only earth stations is not required. Therefore, the Commission has no information on the extent of such non-federal use in the band. In order to better understand the impact of any potential changes in the allocations for this spectrum, we invite interested parties to provide the following information: 1. A description of the utility of the 1675-1710 MHz band for wireless broadband services, including any pairing, band plan, or other licensing approaches that would maximize this utility; 2. Identity of the non-federal entities accessing the services operating in the 1675–1710 MHz band; 3. A description of the purpose of such use (i.e., the equipment is used to support TV weather forecasting or for conducting university research); 4. Which portions of the 1675-1710 MHz band are used; 5. How often the service is used (e.g., every day, scheduled times of day, duration, etc.); 6. An estimate of the current investment in wireless equipment, including when it was obtained and put into use; 7. A description of whether and how the information and services currently accessed can be obtained from other means; and if so, the anticipated costs and timeframes for implementing any alternatives; 8. Confirmation that, if the information currently available from the meteorological satellite service were received at only a few receive sites and distributed via terrestrial services, this would be a functionally equivalent substitute for the direct reception of the satellite and radiosonde services; 9. Any other information interested parties would like to identify regarding use of the meteorological satellite and radiosonde services. Comments are due by June 28, 2010. Interested parties may file comments addressing these questions on or before this date. See 47 U.S.C. § 154(i); 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.241. All comment filings should reference the subject public notice and ET Docket No. 10-123. Comments may be filed by using (1) the Commission’s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS), (2) the Federal Government’s eRulemaking Portal, or (3) by filing paper copies. See Electronic Filing of Documents in Rulemaking Proceedings, 63 FR 24121 (1998). § Electronic Filers: Comments may be filed electronically using the Internet by accessing the ECFS: http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs2/ or the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. § Paper Filers: Parties who choose to file by paper must file an original and four copies of each filing. If more than one docket or rulemaking number appears in the caption of this proceeding, filers must submit two additional copies for each additional docket or rulemaking number. Filings can be sent by hand or messenger delivery, by commercial overnight courier, or by first- class or overnight U.S. Postal Service mail. All filings must be addressed to the Commission’s Secretary, Office of the Secretary, Federal Communications Commission. 3 § All hand-delivered or messenger-delivered paper filings for the Commission’s Secretary must be delivered to FCC Headquarters at 445 12th St., SW, Room TW-A325, Washington, DC 20554. The filing hours are 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. All hand deliveries must be held together with rubber bands or fasteners. Any envelopes must be disposed of before entering the building. § Commercial overnight mail (other than U.S. Postal Service Express Mail and Priority Mail) must be sent to 9300 East Hampton Drive, Capitol Heights, MD 20743. § U.S. Postal Service first-class, Express, and Priority mail must be addressed to 445 12th Street, SW, Washington DC 20554. People with Disabilities: To request materials in accessible formats for people with disabilities (braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), send an e-mail to fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice), 202-418-0432 (tty). All filings must be addressed to the Commission’s Secretary, Marlene H. Dortch, Office of the Secretary, Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20554. Parties must also serve one copy with the Commission’s copy contractor, Best Copy and Printing, Inc. (BCPI), Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW, Room CY-B402, Washington, D.C. 20554, (202) 488-5300, or via e-mail to fcc@bcpiweb.com. Documents in the above docket will be available for public inspection and copying during business hours at the FCC Reference Information Center, Portals II, 445 12th St. SW, Room CY-A257, Washington, D.C. 20554. The documents may also be purchased from BCPI, telephone (202) 488-5300, facsimile (202) 488-5563, TTY (202) 488-5562, e-mail fcc@bcpiweb.com. For further information, contact Rodney Small (202-418-2452; Rodney.Small@fcc.gov), or Ronald Repasi (202-418-2470; Ronald.Repasi@fcc.gov). -FCC-