[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 129 (Thursday, July 6, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 35166-35169]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-16069]



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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
47 CFR Parts 25 and 87

[IB Docket No. 95-91; GEN Docket No. 90-357; PP-24; PP-85; PP-87; FCC 
95-229]


Digital Audio Radio Service in the 2310-2360 MHz Frequency Band

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: The Commission has proposed rules and policies to establish 
service and licensing rules for the Digital Audio Radio Service in the 
2310-2360 MHz frequency bands. We request comment on issues that 
include how many licenses should be awarded; how much spectrum each 
licensee should be assigned; how licensees should be selected if 
mutually exclusive applications are filed; whether applications already 
pending before the Commission should receive special consideration; how 
those licensees should be classified; whether licensees should be 
permitted to use some of their spectrum for non-DARS services; how 
satellite DARS will impact terrestrial radio broadcasting; and what 
rules should govern the operation of DARS transmissions to ensure 
service to the public and to prevent interference to competitors and 
other services.

DATES: Comments are due by September 15, 1995; reply comments are due 
by October 13, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Federal Communications Commission, Washington, DC 20554.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Rosalee Chiara, International Bureau, Satellite and Radiocommunication 
Division, Satellite Policy Branch, (202) 739-0730, or Ron Repasi, 
International Bureau, Satellite and Radiocommunication Division, 
Satellite Engineering Branch, (202) 739-0749.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Notice 
of Proposed Rule Making in IB Docket No. 95-91; FCC 95-229, adopted 
June 14, 1995 and released June 15, 1995. The complete text of this 
Notice of Proposed Rule Making is available for inspection and copying 
during normal business hours in the FCC Reference Center (Room 239), 
1919 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., and also may be purchased from 
the Commission's copy contractor, International Transcription Service, 
(202) 857-3800, 2100 M Street, N.W., Suite 140, Washington, DC 20037.

Summary of Notice of Proposed Rule Making

    In 1990, Satellite CD Radio (CD Radio) filed a Petition for 
Rulemaking to allocate spectrum for a Digital Audio Radio Service 
(DARS). In February 1992, the World Administrative Radio Conference 
(WARC 92) adopted international frequency allocations for satellite 
digital audio broadcasting. Domestic allocations were proposed in 1992 
(see Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Further Notice of Inquiry, 57 FR 
57049 (Dec. 2, 1992)) and adopted in 1995 (see Amendment of the 
Commission's Rules with Regard to the Establishment and Regulation of 
New Digital Audio Radio Services, 60 FR 8309 (Feb. 14, 1995) 
(Allocation Order)).
    In 1990, CD Radio filed an application to provide a digital audio 
radio service by satellite. Following the Allocation NPRM, the 
Commission established a December 15, 1992 cut-off date for 
applications proposing satellite DARS to be considered in conjunction 
with CD Radio's application. There remains a pool of four applicants 
consisting CD Radio, Primosphere Limited Partnership, Digital Satellite 
Broadcasting Corporation, and American Mobile Radio Corporation.
    In the Allocation Order, we indicated that this rulemaking would be 
initiated to address the implementation of satellite DARS. We have, 
therefore, proposed rules and policies to establish service and 
licensing rules for the Digital Audio Radio Service in the 2310-2360 
MHz frequency bands. We request comment on issues that include how many 
licenses should be awarded; 

[[Page 35167]]
how much spectrum each licensee should be assigned; how licensees 
should be selected if mutually exclusive applications are filed; 
whether applications already pending before the Commission should 
receive special consideration; how those licensees should be 
classified; whether licensees should be permitted to use some of their 
spectrum for non-DARS services; how this service would impact 
terrestrial radio broadcasting; and what rules should govern the 
operation of DARS transmissions to ensure service to the public and to 
prevent interference to competitors and other services. We also request 
comment on the pioneer's preference requests filed by three of the 
current applicants.
    In addition to the rule changes being proposed for Part 25, we are 
proposing to modify Section 87.303(d)(1) concerning frequency use in 
Aviation Services. We seek comment on this proposal and on any 
additional modifications to Part 87 that may be necessary.
    We conclude that the proposals set forth in this NPRM will 
facilitate the implementation of DARS in the United States. We seek 
comment on all aspects of these service rules and anticipate an 
extensive record on which to base decisions on final regulations.

Ordering Clauses

    Accordingly, it is ordered that, pursuant to sections 1, 4(i), 
4(j), 7, and 309(j) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 
U.S.C. Secs. 151, 154(i) and 154(j), 157, and 309(j), notice is hereby 
given of the proposed amendments to Parts 25 and 87 of the Commission's 
Rules, 47 CFR Parts 25 and 87, in accordance with the proposals in this 
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, and the comment is sought regarding such 
proposals.
    It is further ordered that the Secretary shall send a copy of this 
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, including the Initial Regulatory 
Flexibility Analysis, to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small 
Business Administration in accordance with paragraph 603(a) of the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act, Pub. L. No. 96-354, 94 Stat. 1164, 5 U.S.C. 
Sec. 601 et seq (1981).

Administrative Matters

    This is a non-restricted notice and comment rulemaking proceeding. 
Ex parte presentations are permitted, except during the Sunshine Agenda 
period, provided they are disclosed as provided in Commission rules. 
See generally 47 CFR Secs. 1.1202, 1.1203, and 1.1206(a). The 
individual satellite DARS applications and pioneer's preference 
proceedings are restricted proceedings, to the extent that any party 
has formally opposed an application or pioneer's preference request. Ex 
parte presentations concerning any formally opposed application or 
request are prohibited. See 47 CFR Sec. 1.1208.
    Pursuant to applicable procedures set forth in sections 1.415 and 
1.419 of the Commission's Rules, 47 CFR Secs. 1.415 and 1.419, 
interested parties may file comments on or before September 15, 1995 
and reply comments on or before October 13, 1995. To file formally in 
this proceeding, parties must file an original and five copies of all 
comments, reply comments, and supporting comments. If parties want each 
Commissioner to receive a personal copy of their comments, they must 
file an original plus nine copies. Parties should send comments and 
reply comments to Office of the Secretary, Federal Communications 
Commission, Washington, D.C. 20554. Comments and reply comments will be 
available for public inspection during regular business hours in the 
Reference Center of the Federal Communications Commission, 1919 M 
Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20554, room 239. For further information 
contact Rosalee Chiara or Ron Repasi at (202) 739-0735. Parties filing 
comments on the pioneer's preferences requests must file comments 
separate from those on the rules proposed in this notice and reference 
both the file numbers and the General Docket No. 90-357. For further 
information on pioneer's preference requests contact Rodney Small at 
(202) 776-1622.

Initial Regulatory Flexibility Act Statement

    As required by Section 603 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, the 
Commission has prepared an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 
(IRFA) of the expected impact on small entities of the proposals 
suggested in this document. The IRFA is set forth in Appendix III. 
Written public comments are requested on the IRFA. These comments must 
be filed in accordance with the same filing deadlines as comments on 
the rest of the Notice, but they must have a separate and distinct 
heading designating them as responses to the Initial Regulatory 
Analysis.

List of Subjects

47 CFR Part 25

    Satellites.

47 CFR Part 87

    Air transportation.

    Federal Communications Commission.
William F. Caton,
Acting Secretary.
Proposed Rules

    Parts 25 and 87 of title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations are 
proposed to be amended as follows:

PART 25--SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS

    1. The authority citation for part 25 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: Sections. 101-404, 76 Stat. 419-427; 47 U.S.C. 701-
744, Sec. 4, 48 Stat. 1066, as amended; 47 U.S.C. 154. Interprets or 
applies sec. 303, 48 Stat. 1082, as amended; 47 U.S.C. 303.

    2. Section 25.114 is amended by revising paragraph (c)(18), or read 
as follows:


Sec. 25.114  Applications for space station authorizations.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *
    (18) Detailed information demonstrating the financial 
qualifications of the applicant to construct and launch the proposed 
satellites. Applications for domestic fixed-satellite systems and 
mobile-satellite systems shall provide the financial information 
required by Sec. 25.140(b) through (e), Sec. 25.142(a)(4), or 
Sec. 25.143(b)(3), as appropriate.
    Applciations for satellite DARS systems shall comply with the 
requirements of Sec. 25.144(b)(3). Applications for international 
satellite systems authorized pursuant to Establishing of Satellite 
Systems Providing International Communications, 50 FR 42266 (October 
18, 1985), 101 FCC 2d 1046 (1985), recon, 61 RR 2d 649 (1986), further 
recon. FCC Rcd 439 (1986), shall provide the information required by 
that decision.
* * * * *
    3. A new Sec. 25.144 is added to read as follows:


Sec. 25.144  Licensing provisions for the 2.3 GHz satellite digital 
audio radio service.

    (a) Definitions:
    (1) System. The term System refers to the constellation of one or 
more satellite DARS space stations, the feeder link earth station(s), 
and the mobile, fixed and/or portable receivers.
    (2) Allocated bandwidth. The term allcoated bandwidth refers to the 
entry in the Table of Frequency Allocations of a given frequency band 
for the purpose of its use by one or more terrestrial or space 
radiocommunciation services or the radio astronomy service under 

[[Page 35168]]
specified conditions. This term shall be applied to the 2310-2360 MHz 
band for satellite DARS.
    (3) Frequency Assignment. The term frequency assignment refers to 
the authorization given by the Commission for a radio station to use a 
radio frequency or radio frequency channel under specified conditions.
    (b) Qualification requirements. (1) General requirements. Each 
application for a system authorization in the satellite digital audio 
radio service in the 2310-2360 MHz band shall describe in detail the 
proposed satellite digital audio radio system, setting forth all 
pertinent technical and operational aspects of the systems, and the 
technical, legal, and financial qualifications of the applicant. In 
particular, satellite DARS applicants must file information 
demonstrating compliance with Sec. 25.114 and all of the requirements 
of this section.
    (2) Technical qualifications. In addition to the information 
specified in paragraph (b)(1) of this section, each applicant shall:
    (i) Identify the service link margin of its satellite DARS system 
and demonstrate that its system will, in a mobile environment under 
clear sky conditions, provide that service link margin to the 
geographical areas it intends to serve;
    (ii) Demonstrate that its satellite DARS system is capable of 
remotely tuning its individual mobile, fixed, and/or portable receivers 
across the allocated bandwidth 2310-2360 MHz and demonstrate how it 
will implement the forward signalling command for its receivers to 
select and tune to any center frequency(ies) in the allocated 
bandwidth; and
    (iii) Identify the coding scheme and coding rate it will use to 
transmit CD quality audio. If applicable, the applicant shall identify 
any other audio format(s) it will provide to its end users as well as 
their associated coding scheme and coding rates. If audio formats which 
are less than CD quality will be provided, it shall demonstrate that it 
is capable of transmitting those audio formats at variable data rates 
which are less than those necessary to produce CD quality audio.
    (3) Financial qualifications. (i) Each applicant for a space 
station system authorization in the 2.3 GHz satellite digital audio 
radio service must demonstrate, on the basis of a detailed business 
plan, how it proposes to meet the estimated costs of the construction 
and launch of its proposed space station(s) and the estimated operating 
expenses for one year after the launch of its space station(s).
    (ii) Within one year of license grant, licensees are required to 
demonstrate full financing of their systems in the form specified in 
Sec. 25.140 (c) and (d). In addition, applicants relying on current 
assets or operating income must submit evidence of a management 
commitment to the proposed satellite system. Failure to make such a 
showing will result in the dismissal of the application.
    (c) Milestone requirements. Each applicant for system authorization 
in the satellite digital audio radio service must demonstrate within 10 
days after a required implementation milestone as specified in the 
system authorization, and on the basis of the documentation contained 
in its application, certify to the Commission by affidavit that the 
milestone has been met or notify the Commission by letter that it has 
not been met. At its discretion, the Commission may require the 
submission of additional information (supported by affidavit of a 
person or persons with knowledge thereof) to demonstrate that the 
milestone has been met. This showing shall include all information 
described in Sec. 25.140 (c), (d) and (e). The satellite DARS 
milestones are as follows, based on the date of authorization:
    (1) One year: Complete contracting for construction of first space 
station or begin space station construction.
    (2) Two years: If applied for, complete contracting for 
construction of second space station or begin second space station 
construction.
    (3) Four years: In orbit operation of at least one space station.
    (4) Six years: Full operation of the satellite system.
    (d) Reporting requirements. All operators of satellite digital 
audio radio service systems, shall, on June 30 of each year, file a 
report with the International Bureau and the Commission's Laurel, 
Maryland field office containing the following information:
    (1) Status of space station construction and anticipated launch 
date, including any major problems or delay encountered;
    (2) A listing of any non-scheduled space station outages for more 
than thirty minutes and the cause(s) of such outages; and
    (3) Identification of any space station(s) not available for 
service or otherwise not performing to specifications, the cause(s) of 
these difficulties, and the date any space station was taken out of 
service or the malfunction identified.
    4. Section 25.201 is amended by adding the definition for Satellite 
Digital Audio Radio Service (DARS) in alphabetical order to read as 
follows:


Sec. 25.201  Definitions.

* * * * *
    Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (DARS). A radiocommunication 
service in which compact disc quality audio programming is digitally 
transmitted by one or more space stations directly to fixed, mobile, 
and/or portable stations.
* * * * *
    5. Section 25.202 is amended by adding a new paragraph (a)(6), as 
follows:


Sec. 25.202  Frequencies, frequency tolerance and emission limitations.

    (a) * * *
    (6) The following frequencies are available for use by the 
satellite digital audio radio service:

2310-2360 MHz: space-to-Earth (primary)
* * * * *
    6. A new Sec. 25.214 is added to read as follows:


Sec. 25.214  Technical requirements for space stations in the satellite 
digital audio radio service.

    (a) Each system authorized under this section will be conditioned 
upon construction, launch and operation milestones as outlined in 
Sec. 25.144(c). The failure to meet any of the milestones contained in 
an authorization will result in its cancellation, unless such failure 
is due to circumstances beyond the licensee's control or unless 
otherwise determined by the Commission upon proper showing by the 
licensee in any particular case.
    (b) Frequency assignments will be made for each satellite DARS 
system as follows:
    (1) All licensees are limited to the allocated bandwidth of 2310-
2360 MHz.
    (2) [Subject to Decision--Band Segments]
    (3) [Subject to Decision--Frequency Assignments]
    (4) Each satellite DARS licensee shall reduce its assigned 
bandwidth occupancy by 0.1 MHz to create two (2) 0.2 MHz assignments 
adjacent to the edge of the allocated bandwidth for location of 
telemetry beacons.
    (5) Each licensee may employ cross polarization within its 
exclusive frequency assignment and/or may employ cross polarized 
transmissions in frequency assignments of other satellite DARS 
licensees under mutual agreement with those licensees. Licensees who 
come to mutual agreement to use cross-polarized transmissions shall 
apply to the 

[[Page 35169]]
Commission for approval of the agreement before coordination is 
initiated with other administrations by the licensee of the exclusive 
frequency assignment.

PART 87--AVIATION SERVICES

    1. The authority citation in part 87 continues to read:


    Authority: 48 Stat. 1066, 1082, as amended; 47 U.S.C. 154, 303, 
unless otherwise noted. Interpret or apply 48 Stat. 1064-1068, 1081-
1105, as amended; 47 U.S.C. 151-156, 301-609.

    2. Paragraph (d)(1) of Sec. 87.303 is revised to read as follows:

Sec. 87.303  Frequencies.

* * * * *

    (d)(1) Frequencies in the bands 1435-1525 MHz and 2360-2390 MHz are 
assigned primarily for telemetry and telecommand operations associated 
with the flight testing of manned or unmanned aircraft and missiles, or 
their major components. The bands 1525-1535 MHz and 2310-2360 MHz are 
also available for these purposes on a secondary basis. Permissible 
uses of these bands include telemetry and telecommand transmissions 
associated with the launching and reentry into the earth's atmosphere 
as well as any incidental orbiting prior to reentry of manned or 
unmanned objects undergoing flight tests. In the 1435-1530 MHz band, 
the following frequencies are shared with flight telemetry mobile 
stations: 1444.5, 1453.5, 1501.5, 1515.5, 1524.5 and 1525.5 MHz. In the 
2360-2390 MHz band, the following frequencies may be assigned on a co-
equal basis for telemetry and associated telecommand operations in 
fully operational or expendable and re-usable launch vehicles whether 
or not such operations involve flight testing: 2364.5, 2370.5 and 
2382.5 MHz. In 2310-2390 MHz band, all other telemetry and telecommand 
uses are secondary.

* * * * *

[FR Doc. 95-16069 Filed 7-5-95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6712-01-M