SUIRG: Satellite Players Must Keep C-Band

 

Via Satellite: What role can SUIRG play in this debate and lobbying process?

Ames: SUIRG has a membership base of 33 organizations covering most of the major international satellite operators, many smaller regional operators plus user and equipment vendor organizations. In addition, SUIRG actively collaborates with many other satellite industry trade associations to petition local administrations plus the ITU and European Community (EC). As an example, in May, SUIRG and eight other trade associations representing over 400 companies worldwide with a combined revenue in excess of 66 billion euros, sent a letter to the EC Commissioners. Our letter urged the EC to oppose the preliminary European proposal to WRC-07 to open any part of the C-band for terrestrial mobile technologies such as IMT.

Via Satellite: What is going to happen over the rest of the year, and is the satellite industry's position stronger now than it has been throughout the last few months?

Ames: Within the next several months, SUIRG, with the assistance of the U.S. Navy Navsea, SES New Skies, SES Americom, Intelsat, [the Global VSAT Forum] and AsiaSat will be performing a field test where WiMax certified hub and subscriber units will be tested to provide quantifiable data of interference into a C-band earth station. AsiaSat conducted a similar test in 2006. We anticipate that the results from this next field test will provide additional quantifiable results. 

Since the potential impact is significant, it is no surprise that the WiMax issue is being discussed extensively within the global satellite community. Satellite industry associations are taking strong action and pressing the case to oppose sharing of the C-band spectrum to the EC and ITU.

Interestingly, the WiMax Forum recently issued a report questioning if WiMax and satellite services can coexist. If you Google WiMax, you’ll get 22 million hits. The majority of those discuss upcoming implementations and the benefits of WiMax. No question about it, the satellite industry has its work cut out for it. 

Via Satellite: If we are having this conversation in early 2008, what do you expect to have happened?

Ames: SUIRG hopes that by 2008 this issue will be resolved with WiMax becoming a valid service operating in a frequency spectrum other than C-band.

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