Hartshorn: 'A Matter Of Life Or Death'

 

Via Satellite: How is interference affecting satellite players, and what can be done to resolve this?

Hartshorn: The impact is huge: There are approximately 160 satellites in the geostationary orbit that support operations at frequencies in the range 3400-4200 megahertz. Manufacturers have invested heavily to make state-of-the-art earth stations available. And their customers — the international user community — have been procuring C-band solutions in high volumes for decades.

What can be done to resolve this? In the final countdown before WRC, GVF and a growing number of supporting organizations have been working very hard to counter the threat to fixed and mobile C-band satellite services. A Global Satellite Industry Position Paper has been established and is being distributed to governments and user groups in all regions, and endorsements have been secured from GVF, the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia, the Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications Council, the European Satellite Operators’ Association, Europe’s Satellite Action Plan-Regulatory Working Group, the World Teleport Association, the Satellite Users Interference Reduction Group (SUIRG) and the U.S. Satellite Industry Association among others.

Events activities are also being applied to heighten awareness of the issue. For example, GVF and the Inter-American Telecommunications Commission recently held a  forum via the World Bank’s Global Distance Learning Network, with videoconference links established with six key national administrations throughout the Americas – and with live Webcasting provided for every nation in the world.

Further, the Second Annual C-band Satellite Summit is scheduled to be held on 24 September in London on the day preceding the VSAT 2007 Conference, where government and private-sector executives will meet to address the issue and make final WRC preparations.

Meanwhile, coordination is underway with the WiMax Forum — which has invited GVF to address their annual general meeting in Spain this summer — and dozens of other event activities have also been held or planned. To coordinate future programs, a strategic global calendar has been established to ensure as much advocacy as possible between now and WRC. Complementing these activities are published articles that have already begun to appear in publications throughout the world. And GVF is working with SUIRG and the WiMax Forum to conduct further testing.

To help coordinate these activities, the GVF Regulatory Working Group holds monthly conference calls, during which the latest status and plans are addressed. More support is needed in order to assure the most successful possible outcome for the C-band crisis. The terrestrial-wireless industry casts a very long shadow. GVF calls upon your organization for support to enable us to effectively achieve our shared objectives.

Via Satellite: Why do you think satellite players should keep all of the C-Band spectrum?

Hartshorn: The stakes are high in the extreme. If private- and public-sector organizations fail to address this trend, the satellite industry may be prevented from delivering millions of existing and potential users — not only in emerging regions, but also in developed countries — with fixed and mobile satellite services for voice, data and video services. In the U.S. alone, there are 11,000 cable headends that rely upon C-band satellite services.

Since the International Telecommunication Union originally allocated C-band for delivery of services by the global satellite industry, our sector has delivered on its promise, with a massive deployment of solutions worldwide. Continued refinements in technology, regulation and other factors now bring C-band satellite services to an even broader range of user groups, many of whom are among the most desperately disadvantaged in the world. C-band satellite services hold the power to improve standards of economic vitality, education, health, disaster preparedness. … Not to put too fine a point on it, but for many users preservation of the band for delivery of satellite services is literally a matter of life and death.   

• Via Satellite Magazine Announces 2011 Satellite Executive of the Year Nominees

• UAVs Unlimited: ISR-Focused Military Looks to More Capable Remotely Piloted Aircraft

• Satellite R&D Landscape Rich with Promise NASA Space Technology Focus, Military Requirements Driving Future Innovations

• EXTENDED INTERVIEW: Satellite Executive of the Year 2010 Petra Mateos, Chairwoman, Hispasat
• Shifting Market Dynamics Forces Content Providers to Explore New Revenue Streams

• Jackson: “I Don’t Know How We Got Into This Position”
• The WiMax Point Of View
• The Defense Case for C-Band
• SUIRG: Satellite Players Must Keep C-Band
• NSR Sees Opportunity For Satellite Players In WiMax