STATEMENT OF 
COMMISSIONER MICHAEL O’RIELLY
Re: Amendment of Parts 2 and 25 of the Commission’s Rules to facilitate the Use of Earth Stations in 
Motion Communicating with Geostationary Orbit Space Stations in Frequency Bands Allocated to 
the Fixed Satellite Service, IB Docket No. 17-95.
I generally support today’s Notice streamlining the Commission’s current earth stations in motion 
(ESIMs) rules.  It also seeks comment on expanding the bandwidth available for ESIMs to the Ka-band. 
While we consistently seek ways to maximize the use of our spectrum resources, time and again we face 
the question of how to successfully accommodate new and incumbent services in the same or adjacent 
bands.  Here, we need to understand whether moving satellite earth stations, in certain Ka-band 
frequencies, could potentially cause harmful interference to current incumbent satellite offerings or future 
28 GHz terrestrial deployments.  I thank the Chairman for incorporating edits to elicit comment on these 
points.
And speaking of 28 GHz, I am yet again reminded of the unfortunate outcome of the World 
Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) in 2015, where we were not able to garner support for the 
global harmonization of this band for mobile services.  Instead, the U.S. and some other forward-looking 
countries will develop this band without input from the rest of the world.  As we proceed towards WRC-
19, I will keep an eye on the agenda item to study the potential use of ESIMs in frequencies ranging from
27.5 to 29.5 GHz, which happens to overlap the 28 GHz band (27.5 to 28.35 GHz) and some of the 
ESIMs spectrum we propose today. We must ensure that U.S. positions do not potentially dissuade
investment and deployment in the 28 GHz band either domestically or internationally.  Our continued 
commitment to the future success of the 28 GHz band must be clear to all.