STATEMENT OF
CHAIRMAN AJIT PAI

Re:	Facilitating the Communications of Earth Stations in Motion with Non-Geostationary Orbit Space Stations, IB Docket No. 18-315.

Willie Nelson famously couldn’t wait to get on the road again, goin’ places that he’d never been, seein’ things that he may never see again.  That’s true for millions of Americans today, with the twist that when they hit the road, they want to be connected.  Connectivity is essential to communicating, navigating, and ensuring safety on the nation’s roads and railways, airspace and waterways. 
As you may recall, earth stations in motion—or ESIMs—provide essential high-speed broadband connectivity on aircraft, ships, trains, and vehicles (maybe even musicians’ tour buses).  For obvious reasons, users on the go are often among the hardest to serve with traditional wireline and wireless networks.  Earlier this fall, we streamlined our regulations for these licensees by combining separate regulations for different categories of ESIMs and expanding the satellite frequencies through which they can communicate with geosynchronous satellites.  
But geosynchronous satellites aren’t the only communications units in space.  As today’s Space Month agenda demonstrates, non-geosynchronous orbit satellites (NGSOs) are becoming increasingly important in the marketplace, too.  So today, we propose to allow ESIMs to communicate with NGSOs in the conventional Ku-band, extended Ku-band, and Ka-bands—frequencies in which ESIMs are already allowed to communicate with geostationary satellites.  We hope this proposal will help ESIMs make it easier for consumers on the move to capitalize on cutting-edge satellite technologies.
Many thanks to the excellent staff that contributed to this item, including Jose Albuquerque, Paul Blais, Stephen Duall, Jennifer Gilsenan, Kathryn Medley, Cindy Spiers, Tom Sullivan, and Troy Tanner from the International Bureau; Jamison Prime and Nick Oros from the Office of Engineering and Technology; Mathew Pearl, Paul Powell, and Becky Schwartz from the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau; and Deborah Broderson and David Horowitz from the Office of General Counsel.  Because of your efforts, perhaps more Americans won’t be able to wait to get on the road again.