Attachment Exhibits A - C SES-STA-20170308-00249

Attachment Exhibits A - C

This document pretains to SES-STA-20170308-00249 for Special Temporal Authority on a Satellite Earth Station filing.

IBFS_SESSTA2017030800249_1200032

Exhibit B

PETITION FOR WAIVER OF SECTIONS 25.137 AND 25.114

Pursuant to Section 25.137 of the Federal Communications Commission’s
(“Commission” or “FCC”) rules, earth station applicants “requesting authority to operate
with a non-U.S. licensed space station to serve the United States” must demonstrate that
effective competitive opportunities exist and must provide the same technical information
required by Section 25.114 for U.S.-licensed space stations.1 Intelsat License LLC
(“Intelsat”) herein seeks authority to provide launch and early orbit phase (“LEOP”)
services—not commercial services—to the United States, and thus believes that Section
25.137 does not apply.2

To the extent the Commission determines, however, that Intelsat’s request for authority to
provide LEOP services on a special temporary basis is a request to serve the United
States with a non U.S.-licensed satellite, Intelsat respectfully requests a waiver of
Sections 25.137 and 25.114 of the Commission’s rules.3 The Commission may grant a
waiver for good cause shown.4 The Commission typically grants a waiver where the
particular facts make strict compliance inconsistent with the public interest.5 In granting
a waiver, the Commission may take into account considerations of hardship, equity, or
more effective implementation of overall policy on an individual basis.6 Waiver is
therefore appropriate if special circumstances warrant a deviation from the general rule,
and such a deviation will serve the public interest.

In this case, good cause exists for a waiver of both Section 25.137 and Section 25.114.
With respect to Section 25.114, Intelsat seeks authority only to provide LEOP services
for the SGDC-1 satellite. The information sought by Section 25.114 is not relevant to
LEOP services. Moreover, Intelsat does not have—and would not easily be able to
obtain—such information because Intelsat is not the operator of the SGDC-1 satellite, nor
is Intelsat in contractual privity with that operator. Rather, an affiliate of Intelsat has a
contract with the Thales Alenia Space, the manufacturer of the SGDC-1 satellite, to
conduct LEOP services for the satellite.

1
47 C.F.R. § 25.137 (emphasis added).
2
See EchoStar Satellite Operating Company Application for Special Temporary Authority
Related to Moving the EchoStar 6 Satellite from the 77° W.L. Orbital Location to the 96.2º W.L.
Orbital Location, and to Operate at the 96.2° W.L. Orbital Location, DA 13-593, File No. SAT-
STA-20130220-00023 (released Apr. 1, 2013) (noting that operating TT&C earth stations in the
United States with a foreign-licensed satellite does not constitute “DBS service”).
3
47 C.F.R. §§ 25.137 and 25.114.
4
47 C.F.R. §1.3.
5
N.E. Cellular Tel. Co. v. FCC, 897 F.2d 1164, 1166 (D.C. Cir. 1990) (“Northeast Cellular”).
6
WAIT Radio v. FCC, 419 F.2d 1153, 1159 (D.C. Cir. 1969); Northeast Cellular, 897 F.2d at
1166.

The information that Intelsat is not including is not required to determine potential
harmful interference. The Schedule S information for this satellite would pertain to the
operation of the SGDC-1 satellite at its final orbital location. However, the present
application for LEOP services involves communications prior to the satellite attaining its
final location in the geostationary orbit. In other words, during the LEOP mission, the
earth station will not be communicating with a satellite located in the geostationary orbit.
Rather, it will be transmitting to a satellite traveling on its “transfer orbit” or “LEOP
path,” which starts immediately following its separation from a launch vehicle, and ends
when the satellite reaches its geostationary orbital location. Moreover, as with any STA,
Intelsat will perform the LEOP services on a non-interference basis.

Because it is not relevant to the service for which Intelsat seeks authorization, and
because obtaining the information would be a hardship, Intelsat seeks a waiver of all the
information required by Section 25.114. Intelsat has provided in this STA request the
required technical information that is relevant to the LEOP services for which Intelsat
seeks authorization.

Good cause also exists to waive Section 25.137. Section 25.137 is designed to ensure
that “U.S.-licensed satellite systems have effective competitive opportunities to provide
analogous services” in other countries. Here, there is no service being provided by the
satellite; it is simply being placed in its orbital location after separating from the launch
vehicle. Thus, the purpose of the information required by Section 25.137 is not
implicated here. For example, Section 25.137(d) requires earth station applicants
requesting authority to operate with a non-U.S.-licensed space station that is not in orbit
and operating to post a bond.7 The underlying purpose in having to post a bond—i.e., to
prevent warehousing of orbital locations by operators seeking to serve the United
States—would not be served by requiring Intelsat to post a bond in order to provide
approximately 10 days of LEOP services to the SGDC-1 satellite.

It is Intelsat’s understanding that SGDC-1 is licensed by Brazil, which is a WTO-member
country. Thus, the purposes of Section 25.137—to ensure that U.S. satellite operators
enjoy “effective competitive opportunities” to serve foreign markets and to prevent
warehousing of orbital locations serving the United States—will not be undermined by
grant of this waiver request.

Finally, Intelsat notes that it expects to operate with the SGDC-1 satellite using its U.S.
earth station for a period of approximately 10 days. Requiring Intelsat to obtain copious
technical and legal information from an unrelated party, where there is no risk of harmful
interference and the operations will cease after approximately 10 days, would pose undue
hardship without serving underlying policy objectives. Given these particular facts, the
waiver sought herein is plainly appropriate.

7
See 47 C.F.R. §25.137(d)(4).

Exhibit C

Request for Waiver of Footnote NG165 to the U.S. Table of Allocations

To the extent necessary, Intelsat requests a waiver of footnote NG165 to the U.S. Table of
Frequency Allocations, which limits the use of the 18.8-19.3 GHz frequency band to systems in
non-geosynchronous orbit (“NGSO”).1 Intelsat seeks waiver to permit its 9.2m Ka-band
antenna, located in Riverside, California, to communicate with the SGDC-1 satellite during its
launch and early orbit phase (“LEOP”) mission.
The Commission may grant a waiver for good cause shown.2 The Commission typically grants a
waiver where the particular facts make strict compliance inconsistent with the public interest.3
In granting a waiver, the Commission may take into account considerations of hardship, equity,
or more effective implementation of overall policy on an individual basis.4 Waiver is therefore
appropriate if special circumstances warrant a deviation from the general rule, and such a
deviation will serve the public interest.
Good cause exists to waive, for purposes of the SGDC-1 LEOP mission, the designation of the
18.8-19.3 GHz frequency band for NGSO operations only. Although the antenna will
communicate with a satellite that ultimately will be geostationary, during LEOP the SGDC-1
satellite will be in non-geosynchronous orbit. Specifically, the antenna will be transmitting to
the satellite as it travels on its non-geosynchronous “transfer orbit” or “LEOP path,” which starts
immediately following its separation from a launch vehicle, and ends when the satellite reaches
its geostationary orbital location. Moreover, Intelsat’s operations will be on a non-protected,
non-interference basis.
Grant of this waiver is consistent with the Commission’s precedent. A waiver of the Table of
Allocations is generally granted “when there is little potential interference into any service
authorized under the Table of Frequency allocations and when the nonconforming operator
accepts any interference from authorized services.”5 Intelsat expects to communicate with the
SGDC-1 satellite intermittently over a period of approximately 10 days using only two
frequencies in the 18.8-19.3 GHz band. As such, this use poses a negligible risk of potential
interference to co-frequency operations in the 18.8-19.3 GHz frequency band.
Given these particular facts, the waiver sought herein is plainly appropriate.

1
See 47 C.F.R. § 2.106 fn. NG165.
2
47 C.F.R. §1.3.
3
N.E. Cellular Tel. Co. v. FCC, 897 F.2d 1164, 1166 (D.C. Cir. 1990) (“Northeast Cellular”).
4
WAIT Radio v. FCC, 418 F.2d 1153, 1159 (D.C. Cir. 1969); Northeast Cellular, 897 F.2d at 1166.
5
See The Boeing Company, Order and Authorization, 16 FCC Rcd 22645, 22651 (Int’l Bur. & OET
2001); Application of Fugro-Chance, Inc. for Blanket Authority to Construct and Operate a Private
Network of Receive-Only Mobile Earth Stations, Order and Authorization, 10 FCC Rcd 2860 (Int’l Bur.
1995) (authorizing MSS in the C-band); see also Application of Motorola Satellite Communications, Inc.
for Modification of License, Order and Authorization, 11 FCC Rcd 13952-13956 (Int’l Bur. 1996)
(authorizing service to fixed terminals in bands allocated the mobile satellite service).

Document Created: 2017-03-08 12:13:34
Document Modified: 2017-03-08 12:13:34

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