WASHINGTON-The cellular industry this week continued to voice opposition to a request that mobile satellite service spectrum surrendered by Boeing Co. and Iridium be redistributed to other licensees.
CTIA said TMI and TerreStar Networks Inc. are simply wrong, arguing the two companies “offer no reasoned basis for the commission to override its spectrum management responsibilities to seek comment on the highest and best use of abandoned 2 GHz MSS spectrum.”
In a May 27 letter to the Federal Communications Commission, TMI and TerreStar said the agency has ample authority under the Administrative Procedure Act to redistribute 2 GHz MSS frequencies without soliciting public comment.
Several years ago, when the MSS sector ran into hard times and licensees filed for bankruptcy, the cellular industry petitioned federal regulators to reclaim MSS frequencies. The FCC subsequently transferred 30 megahertz from MSS to fixed and mobile services. But the agency also gave MSS operators authority to supplement satellite facilities with land-based cellular base stations. Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Verizon Wireless have challenged the “ancillary terrestrial component” in federal appeals court here.
