8/28 Joint Letter to State Dept, NTIA, FCC Supporting Changes to Improve Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Coexistence

Today, 15 nonprofit think tanks and other organizations from across the political spectrum sent a joint letter to the three agencies collaborating to represent the United States at the upcoming 2023 World Radio Conference, which begins November 20 in Dubai.  The groups emphasized that because satellites in low earth orbit (LEOs) are delivering high-speed broadband and offering connectivity solutions that promise to address the digital divide in the U.S. and globally, “it is imperative for the federal government to promote this promising technology.”

The groups go on to urge the U.S. government to support policies that expand spectrum access for LEO constellations and level the playing field between LEOs and incumbent technologies. LEO systems rely entirely on shared spectrum, “which makes it critical to modernize outdated ITU coexistence criteria to ensure more efficient and equitable access to shared spectrum resources for both LEO and GSO networks.” CITEL, the organization of ITU member nations in the Americas, opens its pre-WRC meetings today and the U.S. has proposed that CITEL (ITU Region 2) support a future agenda item to study such a change for consideration at the next WRC in 2027.  “Such a policy environment will give consumers more options, promote innovation, lower costs and, most importantly, enable many more people to connect to the internet both at home and globally,” the groups concluded.