[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 13 (Wednesday, January 22, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 7651-7652]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-01115]



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Rules and Regulations
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains regulatory documents 
having general applicability and legal effect, most of which are keyed 
to and codified in the Code of Federal Regulations, which is published 
under 50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by the Superintendent of Documents. 

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Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 13 / Wednesday, January 22, 2025 / 
Rules and Regulations

[[Page 7651]]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 25

[IB Docket No. 21-456; FCC 24-117; FR ID 273430]


Spectrum Sharing Rules for NGSO Fixed-Satellite Service Systems; 
Correction

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Correcting amendments.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Communications Commission (Commission) is 
correcting a final rule that appeared in the Federal Register on 
December 13, 2024. The final rule clarified the methodology to be used 
in compatibility analyses submitted by non-geostationary satellite 
orbit (NGSO) fixed-satellite service (FSS) system grantees.

DATES: Effective January 22, 2025, except for the amendment to Sec.  
25.261 in amendatory instruction 3, which is delayed indefinitely. The 
Commission will publish a document in the Federal Register announcing 
the effective date of Sec.  25.261 in instruction 3.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Clay DeCell, 202-418-0803.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On December 13, 2024, the Commission 
published a final rule amending paragraphs (d) and (e) of Sec.  25.261 
and announcing an effective date of those amendments of January 13, 
2025. However, the amendment to paragraph (d) of Sec.  25.261 requires 
approval of the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork 
Reduction Act before it can become effective, as stated elsewhere in 
the final rule. In addition, the amendment to paragraph (e) of Sec.  
25.261 adds a cross-reference to paragraph (d) of that section, which 
is not yet effective. To correct this effective date error, this 
document reverts the text of paragraphs (d) and (e) of Sec.  25.261 and 
adds a delayed instruction to re-insert the rule amendments adopted in 
the final rule after the Commission announces OMB approval and the 
effective date of the amendments to paragraphs (d) and (e) of Sec.  
25.261.

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 25

    Satellites.

    Accordingly, 47 CFR part 25 is corrected by making the following 
correcting amendments:

PART 25--SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS

0
1. The authority citation for part 25 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  47 U.S.C. 154, 301, 302, 303, 307, 309, 310, 319, 
332, 605, and 721, unless otherwise noted.


0
2. Amend Sec.  25.261 by removing and reserving paragraph (d) and 
revising paragraph (e).
    The revision reads as follows:


Sec.  25.261  Sharing among NGSO FSS space stations.

* * * * *
    (e) Sunsetting. Ten years after the first authorization or grant of 
market access in a processing round, the systems approved in that 
processing round will no longer be required to protect earlier-rounds 
systems, and instead will be required to share spectrum with earlier-
round systems under paragraph (c) of this section.

0
3. Delayed indefinitely, further amend Sec.  25.261 by adding paragraph 
(d) and revising paragraph (e) to read as follows:


Sec.  25.261  Sharing among NGSO FSS space stations.

* * * * *
    (d) Protection of earlier-round systems. Prior to commencing 
operations, an NGSO FSS licensee or market access recipient must either 
certify that it has completed a coordination agreement with any 
operational NGSO FSS system licensed or granted U.S. market access in 
an earlier processing round, or submit for Commission approval a 
compatibility showing which demonstrates by use of a degraded 
throughput methodology that it will not cause harmful interference to 
any such system with which coordination has not been completed. If an 
earlier-round system becomes operational after a later-round system has 
commenced operations, the later-round licensee or market access 
recipient must submit a certification of coordination or a 
compatibility showing with respect to the earlier-round system no later 
than 60 days after the earlier-round system commences operations as 
notified pursuant to Sec.  25.121(b) or otherwise.
    (1) Compatibility showings must contain the following elements:
    (i) A demonstration that the later-round system will cause no more 
than 3 percent time-weighted average degraded throughput of the link to 
the earlier-round system, for links with a baseline link availability 
of 99.0 percent or higher at a C/N threshold of 0 dB;
    (ii) A demonstration that the later-round system will cause no more 
than 0.4 percent absolute change in link availability to the earlier-
round system using a C/N threshold value of 0 dB, for links with a 
baseline link availability of 99.0 percent link availability or higher; 
and
    (iii) With respect to an earlier-round system that has not yet 
satisfied its 50 percent deployment milestone pursuant to Sec.  
25.164(b)(1), the compatibility showing may consider only 50 percent 
deployment of the earlier-round system; if the 50 percent deployment 
milestone has been satisfied, the showing must consider 100 percent 
deployment of the authorized system.
    (2) Compatibility showings will be placed on public notice pursuant 
to Sec.  25.151(a)(13).
    (3) While a compatibility showing remains pending before the 
Commission, the submitting NGSO FSS licensee or market access recipient 
may commence operations on an unprotected, non-interference basis with 
respect to the operations of the system that is the subject of the 
showing.
    (4) A later-round NGSO FSS system will be required to conform its 
operations to its compatibility showing submitted for the protection of 
an earlier-round system to the extent necessary to protect the actual 
number of deployed and operating space stations of the earlier-round 
system.
    (e) Sunsetting. Ten years after the first authorization or grant of 
market access in a processing round, the systems approved in that 
processing round will no longer be required to protect earlier-

rounds systems under paragraph (d) of this section, and instead will be 
required to share spectrum with earlier-

[[Page 7652]]

round systems under paragraph (c) of this section.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2025-01115 Filed 1-21-25; 8:45 am]
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