Federal Communications Commission DA 22-1282 DA 22-1282 Released: December 9, 2022 INTERNATIONAL BUREAU RELEASES UPDATED LIST OF INCUMBENT EARTH STATIONS IN THE 3.7-4.2 GHZ BAND IN THE CONTIGUOUS UNITED STATES IB Docket No. 20-205 GN Docket No. 20-305 With this Public Notice, the International Bureau (the Bureau) releases an updated list of those Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) earth stations in the 3.7-4.2 GHz band (C-band) within the contiguous United States that the Bureau has found satisfy the criteria to be classified as incumbent earth stations for purposes of the C-band transition. See 47 CFR § 27.1411(b)(3). The C-band transition is not occurring outside the contiguous United States, so no U.S. licensed or registered earth stations in those locations are included in the updated list. Those stations may seek reimbursement of costs directly related to the transition if they satisfy the criteria for incumbent earth station status. Those earth stations, however, are not eligible to elect lump sum payments. See Expanding Flexible Use of the 3.7 to 4.2 GHz Band, Report and Order and Order of Proposed Modification, 35 FCC Rcd 2343, 2428 (2020) (3.7 GHz Report & Order). This updated list reflects changes since the most recent version of the list of incumbent earth stations released on April 4, 2022. See International Bureau Releases List of Incumbent Earth Stations in the 3.7-4.2 GHz Band in the Contiguous United States, Public Notice, DA 22-266 (IB March 14, 2022), Erratum (IB April 4, 2022) (April Incumbent Earth Station List). The Bureau also is including a changelog to assist in the identification of changes made in the incumbent earth station list since the previous list. In the event of discrepancies between the machine-generated changelog and the updated incumbent list, the updated incumbent earth station list is determinative. This updated list takes into account, among other things, filings made in the International Bureau Filing System (IBFS) by earth station operators to update IBFS to remove inactive antennas, including responses filed in response to the Bureau’s 90-Day Public Notices See International Bureau Identifies Earth Station Antennas On C-Band Incumbent List That May Be Inactive Or Otherwise Not Operational On The 3.7 GHz Band, Public Notice, DA 22-518 (rel. May 12, 2022) (May 2022 Public Notice); International Bureau Identifies C-Band Incumbent Earth Station Antennas on the C-Band Incumbent List That May Be Inactive or Otherwise Not Operational in the 3.7 GHz Band, Public Notice, DA 21-1206 (rel. Sept. 23, 2021) (September 2021 Public Notice); International Bureau Identifies Inactive C-Band Incumbent Earth Station Antennas, Public Notice, DA 21- 893 (rel. July 23, 2021) (July 2021 Public Notice). identifying earth station antennas that are reportedly no longer operational or are not C-band antennas, or where the IBFS registration included over-registered C-band antennas. Over-registered antennas in this context are C-band antennas that were included in an earth station registration application and granted in subsequent registration, but do not currently exist at the site. See May 2022 Public Notice, at 2. For instance, the antennas may never have been built. Surrendered calls signs and inactive individual antennas closed in IBFS have been removed from the incumbent earth station list. Because the deadlines set out in the July 21 and September 2021 Public Notices for responsive filings have passed, the status—as an incumbent earth station—of any antenna included on the October Incumbent List that was included in, but did not respond to, those earlier Public Notices, has been automatically terminated. The updated list also reflects a variety of changes to earth station registrations, including address or coordinate corrections, registration assignments, and other ministerial updates since release of the April Incumbent Earth Station List. Finally, the Bureau has not included on the updated list any earth stations for which it has dismissed applications as not meeting the criteria for incumbent status since release of the April Incumbent Earth Station List. As discussed in the June 22 Incumbent Earth Station List PN, the list does not include registrations of the additional, previously unregistered antennas for which the Bureau’s October 23, 2020 Order granted waivers for interference protection only (and not reimbursement of transition costs). See Incumbent Earth Stations in the 3.7-4.2 GHz Band in the Contiguous United States, Order, IB Docket No. 20-205, GN Docket No. 20-305, 35 FCC Rcd 11896 (IB 2020) (October 23 Order). The registrations of these non-incumbent earth stations appear in IBFS with the letter “A” at the end of the call sign. June 22 Incumbent Earth Station List PN at 2. In addition, the provision of Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TT&C) services of antennas at four consolidated TT&C sites are subject to protection against harmful interference as provided in 47 C.F.R. § 27.1423(c)-(e). See 3.7 GHz Report and Order, at 2479-84 (paras. 374-376, 382-389). As a reminder, all incumbent earth stations that continue to operate in the C-band during the transition or in the 4.0-4.2 GHz band afterwards must maintain a valid, up-to-date registration in IBFS. For instance, incumbent earth station operators continue to be subject to the requirement under Commission rules of filing timely renewal applications when their authorizations are due to expire. 47 CFR § 25.121(e). In addition, when incumbent earth station operators assign earth station antennas in transactions not requiring prior Commission approval, they are required under Commission rules to notify the Commission within 30 days of consummation of the assignment. 47 CFR § 25.119(f). Timely notification of such assignments is particularly important for incumbent C-band earth stations to avoid possible delay or denial of interference protection, cost reimbursement, or lump sum payments to which incumbents are entitled. Finally, incumbent earth station operators who terminate operations in the 3.7-4.2 GHz band at one or more earth station antennas are required pursuant to the Commission’s rules to notify the Commission when those earth station antennas are no longer operational. 47 CFR § 25.115(b)(8). For ease of identification, the list of earth stations includes the following information from the IBFS database: (1) Licensee/Registrant/Applicant name; (2) Earth Station Callsign; (3) Site ID; (4) Antenna ID; (5) number of antennas/dishes associated with that Antenna ID; (6) site address; (7) GPS coordinates of the antenna; and (8) File Number(s) of current authorization and/or pending application. Certain C-band certifications were timely filed in association with File Numbers that have since been superseded by later filings; in the list, those earth stations can be identified by the subsequent File Number. The status of an earth station antenna under the 3.7 GHz Report and Order pertains only to the reception of satellite transmissions on 3.7-4.2 GHz by fixed earth stations and transportable (temporary fixed) earth stations. The list also identifies active earth station antennas for which there is an accepted lump sum election and whether the earth station operator intends to migrate operations to the upper 200 megahertz of the band by the end of the transition or to discontinue use of the C-band. The list includes a machine-generated changelog that identifies differences in the lump sum election information between records on this list and the October Incumbent Earth Station List. To the extent there are any discrepancies between the changelog and the attached updated list regarding whether an earth station antenna has elected lump sum, the updated incumbent earth station list is determinative. The list does not include incumbent earth station antennas that made a valid lump sum election in 2020, but have since made filings in IBFS indicating that they have discontinued use of the C-band, as permitted for those incumbent earth stations. See 47 CFR § 27.1419. See also 47 CFR § 27.1412(e); Expanding Flexible Use of the 3.7 to 4.2 GHz Band, Report and Order and Order of Proposed Modification, 35 FCC Rcd at 2427-2428. ATTACHMENT -FCC- 2