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 PUBLIC  NOTICE  Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12th  St.,  S.  W.  Washington,  D.  C.  20554  News  Media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  Fax-  On-  Demand  202  /  418-  2830  TTY  202  /  418-  2555  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov 
 ftp.  fcc.  gov 
 DA  00-  1358 


 Report  No.  SPB-  157  June  21,  2000 
 WRC-  2000  Adopts  Mandatory  Electronic  Filing  and  Other  Provisions  Effecting  Satellite 
 Networks 


 The  World  Radiocommunication  Conference  (Istanbul,  2000)  adopted  a  number  of  new  and  modified 
 provisions  in  the  Radio  Regulations  that  effect  satellite  network  filings  submitted  to  the  International 
 Telecommunication  Union  (ITU).  They  are  briefly  described  below. 


 I.  MANDATORY  ELECTRONIC  FILING 
 As  of  3  June  2000,  submission  of  Advance  Publication  Information  (API),  requests  for  coordination  and 
 notifications  are  required  to  be  provided  in  the  electronic  form  developed  by  the  ITU  (known  as 
 SPACECAP).  All  alphanumeric  data  are  to  be  provided  in  this  electronic  form;  however,  graphical 
 information  (antenna  patterns,  coverage  contours,  etc.)  will  continue  to  be  accepted  in  paper  form.  The 
 mandatory  electronic  form  applies  to  all  submissions  received  by  the  ITU  on  3  June  2000  and  there  after. 


 The  FCC  will  no  longer  accept  filings  destined  for  the  ITU  unless  they  are  in  the  form  described  above. 
 For  those  filings  submitted  to  the  FCC  completely  in  paper  form  prior  to  3  June  2000,  the  Commission  will 
 forward  those  to  the  ITU.  However,  such  filings  must  be  followed  by  a  duplicate  filing  in  electronic  form 
 received  by  the  ITU  no  later  than  3  October  2000  if  the  submitter  wishes  to  maintain  the  date  of  receipt  at 
 ITU  of  the  paper  filing. 


 II.  IDENTIFICATION  OF  SATELLITE  NETWORKS  BY  THE  ITU 
 In  addition  to  identifying  administrations  with  whom  coordination  may  be  necessary,  the  ITU  is  now 
 required  by  a  new  provision  adopted  by  WRC-  2000  (S9.  36.2)  to  identify  the  individual  satellite  networks 
 triggering  the  coordination  with  an  administration.  This  requirement  will  be  applied  to  filings  in  the  ITU 
 satellite  network  backlog  that  have  not  been  published  and  to  new  submissions.  Consequently,  any  U.  S. 
 comments  in  response  to  another  administrations  filing  will  need  to  be  satellite  network  specific  in  order  to 
 protect  relevant  U.  S.  satellite  network  filings. 


 III.  NEW  COORDINATION  TRIGGER  FOR  GSO  FSS  IN  CONGESTED  BANDS 
 WRC-  2000  adopted  three  orbital  arc  separations  as  the  triggers  for  determining  satellite  networks  with 
 which  coordination  is  necessary  in  specific  bands  in  three  portions  of  the  spectrum  allocated  to  the  fixed- 
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 satellite  service  (FSS).  The  coordination  arc  and  specific  bands  are: 
 3400-  4200  MHz  +/-  10  degrees 
 5725-  5850  MHz  (Region  1) 
 5850-  6725  MHz 


 10.95-  11.2  GHz  +/-  9  degrees 
 11.45-  11.7  GHz 
 11.7-  12.2  GHz  (Region  2) 
 12.2-  12.5  GHz  (Region  3) 
 12.5-  12.75  GHz  (Regions  1  and  3) 
 12.7-  12.75  GHz  (Region  2) 
 13.75-  14.5  GHz 


 17.7-  20.2  GHz  +/-  8  degrees 
 27.5-  30.0  GHz 


 Geostationary  FSS  networks  within  these  arcs  and  bands  are  required  to  coordinate  while  those  networks 
 outside  the  specified  coordination  arc  are  not  required  to  coordinate.  Networks  within  or  without  the  arc 
 may  be  included  or  excluded  in  a  particular  coordination  case.  This  will  be  identified  by  the  concerned 
 administrations  based  on  whether  the  noise  temperature  (delta-  T/  T)  exceeds  or  does  not  exceed, 
 respectively,  the  value  of  6%.  The  coordination  arc  trigger  will  also  be  applied  to  the  backlog  where  the 
 coordination  request  for  the  network  has  yet  to  be  published. 


 IV.  DELETION  OF  SATELLITE  NETWORK  OVERALL  LINK  CHARACTERISTICS 
 For  the  same  bands  and  service  above,  WRC-  2000  also  eliminated  the  requirement  to  provide  the  satellite 
 network  overall  link  characteristics  (strapping  table  and  noise/  gamma  table).  This  information  was  deemed 
 as  unnecessary  in  view  of  the  coordination  arc  trigger  and  the  separate  analyses  of  uplink  and  downlink 
 noise  temperature  increases  rather  than  a  combined  analysis  of  total  system  noise  temperature  increase. 


 All  the  foregoing  provisions  are  effective  from  3  June  2000. 


 V.  REQUIREMENT  TO  NOTIFY 
 WRC-  2000  also  adopted  a  new  provision  (S11.44.1)  effective  1  January  2002  that  requires  the  frequency 
 assignments  for  a  satellite  network  whose  Advance  Publication  Information  (API)  was  received  on  or  after 
 22  November  1997  to  be  notified  within  seven  years  from  the  date  of  receipt  of  the  API.  For  those  networks 
 whose  APIs  were  received  prior  to  22  November  1997,  the  corresponding  period  is  nine  years  from  the  date 
 of  publication  of  the  API.  For  networks  that  have  been  brought  into  use  without  completing  coordination, 
 for  which  the  administrative  due  diligence  information  under  Resolution  49  (WRC-  97)  has  been  submitted, 
 and  are  beyond  the  nine  years  limit  to  notify,  administrations  will  have  until  1  January  2002  to  submit  the 
 required  satellite  network  notifications  to  the  ITU.  For  more  information,  contact  Larry  Reed  or  John 
 Martin  of  the  Satellite  Engineering  Branch,  Radio  and  Communication  Division,  at  (202)  418-  0749. 


 --  FCC-- 
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