Feb 13 Ex Parte Letter of ICLE and OTI Re: SB Docket Nos. 25-180, 25-157 & 25-306
Michael Calabrese and Jessica Dine, representing New America’s Open Technology Institute (OTI), and Kristian Stout, representing the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE), met on February 11, 2026, with Arpan Sura, senior counsel and wireless legal advisor to Chairman Brendan Carr; Will Holloway, wireless legal advisor to Commissioner Olivia Trusty; and Edyael Casaperalta, wireless advisor to Commissioner Anna Gomez, with respect to the above-captioned proceedings.
In each meeting, we summarized at a high level the recommendations in the report of the LEO Satellite Policy Working Group that we jointly convened throughout 2025.[1] The Working Group’s report highlights three salient issues for policymakers: spectrum sharing and coexistence, competition, and advancing the goals of universal and ubiquitous connectivity. The Working Group emphasized that more effective spectrum-sharing and coexistence reforms can greatly expand LEO capacity, performance, and innovation.
With respect to modernizing the rules governing GSO/NGSO spectrum sharing in the Ku and Ka bands, the Working Group strongly supported modernizing EPFD limits and adopting a framework similar to that governing NGSO/NGSO sharing.[2] This framework should require all operators to coordinate in good faith and adopt default interference thresholds that are proxies for actual harmful interference. The Working Group suggested that it would be effective to combine a short-term protection criterion based on an absolute increase in unavailability, such as 0.1% unavailability, with a long-term protection criterion based on 3% degraded throughput for GSO systems using ACM. Finally, the report suggested that the Commission should at least consider sunsets for priority protection, as it did in the NGSO/NGSO sharing framework, at least for ground stations, because these can be upgraded to minimize interference risk more easily and cheaply than GSO satellites in orbit.
Studies have shown that this framework could increase LEO providers’ overall capacity by up to eight times, providing a quality and capacity increase needed as increasing numbers of consumers rely on LEO service to get online. We urged the staff to adopt an order as soon as possible, in part to demonstrate the benefits of a more robust sharing framework well in advance of WRC-27, where this issue is on the tentative agenda. Ahead of WRC-23, OTI and ICLE joined 13 other consumer, school, library, and rural advocacy organizations in a joint letter to the leaders of the U.S. delegation strongly supporting this sharing framework.[3]
With respect to the Spectrum Abundance proceeding, we summarized the Working Group’s support for a robust satellite spectrum pipeline above 12 GHz, including most of the specific bands identified in the Commission’s pending NPRM. In particular, we expressed strong support for opening the 12.7-13.25 GHz band as an extension of the adjacent Ku downlink, as well as the 51.4-52.4 GHz band, which is also adjacent to prime FSS spectrum and unused, for NGSO uplink operations (earth to space). We also described the Working Group’s support for authorizing coordination of FSS earth stations in the 42-42.5 GHz band as part of a light-licensing and automated database coordination process. This automated coordination system could be similar to the proven 70/80/90 GHz framework and could be used to coordinate the siting of earth-station gateways in many other millimeter-wave bands, including the Lower 37 GHz band and the UMFUS bands being considered in a separate proceeding.[4]
Finally, with respect to the Space Modernization proceeding, we provided a brief overview of the comments we filed summarizing the Working Group’s recommendations.[5] The Working Group emphasized the need to replace the current process—characterized by case-by-case, bespoke reviews and tailored conditions—with standardized operational rules (including rules addressing space sustainability) capable of streamlining the application process by serving as presumed acceptable criteria. The Working Group also supported greater latitude for operators to design and modify their systems as technology continues to evolve rapidly. The Working Group recommended a “shot clock” (e.g., one year), but with flexibility for staff to pause the clock as the need for additional information or other special circumstances requires. Finally, while the Working Group did not make a recommendation on the overall timeline for deployment milestones—or whether to level the playing field between U.S. and non-U.S. licensees by mirroring the ITU timeline—it did recommend that deployment milestones be restructured into more graduated, measurable steps (e.g., every two years after an initial period), making forfeiture of larger performance bonds a stronger incentive to deter speculative applications and warehousing.
Pursuant to Section 1.1206(b) of the Commission’s rules, this letter is being filed in the above-captioned proceedings.
[1] See Low Earth Orbit Satellites: Policies to Promote Spectrum Sharing, Foster Competition, and Close Digital Divides, LEO Policy Working Group, Int’l Ctr. for L. & Econ. & New Am. (Oct. 30, 2025), https://www.newamerica.org/oti/wireless-future-project/reports/leo-satellites.
[2] See also Comments of Public Knowledge & Open Tech. Inst., Modernizing Spectrum Sharing for Satellite Broadband, SB Docket No. 25-157 (July 28, 2025).
[3] Letter from 15 Pub. Int. Orgs. to Jessica Rosenworcel, Chairwoman, FCC, Alan Davidson, Assistant Sec’y of Commc’ns & Info., Nat’l Telecomms. & Info. Admin., & Nathan C. Fick, Ambassador at Large, U.S. Dep’t of State (Aug. 28, 2023) (urging the United States to prioritize more efficient and equitable access to shared spectrum resources for both LEO and GSO networks at WRC-23).
[4] We also noted that, when considering proposals such as light licensing in the UMFUS bands, it is important to consider the reasonable investment-backed expectations of existing license holders.
[5] See Comments of Int’l Ctr. for L. & Econ. & Open Tech. Inst. at New Am., Space Modernization for the 21st Century, SB Docket No. 25-306 (Jan. 20, 2026).