Attachment STA Request

This document pretains to SES-STA-20131216-01198 for Special Temporal Authority on a Satellite Earth Station filing.

IBFS_SESSTA2013121601198_1030429

Request for Special Temporary Authority Stratos Offshore Services Company (“Stratos”) requests an extension of special temporary authority (“STA”) to operate a Seatel 9797 ESV antenna in the 3.7-4.2 GHz and 5.925-6.425 GHz bands on the Chevron Jack St. Malo, a U.S.-flagged floating offshore drilling and production platform located in the Gulf of Mexico. The platform is located more than 200 km from the baseline of the United States, and coordination has been completed to ensure that any U.S.-licensed fixed service offshore installations within 200 km of the oil platform site will be adequately protected. On November 26, 2013, the Commission granted Stratos a 30-day STA commencing on December 1, 2013 for the operation of this ESV antenna. That STA expires on December 31, 2013. Stratos has pending an application to modify license call sign E980235 seeking full authority for Seatel 9797 C-Band ESV antenna, along with the coordination notification for this deployment site. 1 That application contains all of the relevant technical parameters and showings required by Section 25.221. The proposed ESV antenna operations comply with Section 25.221 of the Commission’s rules. Stratos requests an extension of STA while the application for full authority is pending. The Jack St. Malo deep-water drilling and production platform is located in international waters in the Gulf of Mexico. During the pre-deployment testing at the dock and during the tow to the final operational location, the Jack St. Malo used a Ku Band VSAT antenna licensed under Stratos’s ESV license call sign E070114 for telemetry control and tracking of the vessel’s operations, as well as data communications. However, Ku Band communications, which may be susceptible to rain fade outages in the harsh weather conditions present in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico region, do not provide a sufficient level of reliability for the telemetry, tracking and data communications from the vessel at its current location in the Gulf of Mexico. C Band operations, on the other hand, offer greater reliability than Ku Band operations in such an operating environment. The telemetry, tracking and data communications are critical for the safety of personnel and for reliable equipment control and environmental monitoring. Based on these circumstances, the Commission granted Stratos an STA to commence the C Band operations upon the vessel’s arrival at its current location in the Gulf of Mexico. Because of the greater risk of harsh weather conditions during this time of year, continued authority for C Band operations is needed while the full license application is pending. Therefore, grant of the extension of the STA is necessary to allow continued reliability of safety and emergency communications, until the application for permanent authority can be processed. Thus, an STA is warranted and in the public interest in this case. Because the proposed STA operations conform to the parameters in Section 25.221 for routine ESV operations and have been fully coordinated, any adjacent operations will be fully protected. Nevertheless, Stratos will make available a 24/7 point of contact in the event that any issues arise in connection with the operations under the requested STA. Personnel will be on duty at all times during the STA period and can be contacted at (800) 375-1562. 1 See IBFS File No. SES-MOD-20131112-00965.


Document Created: 2013-12-16 15:32:21
Document Modified: 2013-12-16 15:32:21
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