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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 38 / Monday, March 1, 2021 / Rules and Regulations licensees, and that we need not limit its application initially to certain regulatory frameworks. Accordingly, we will broadly make available a unified licensing option to all types of satellite and blanket-licensed earth station operations in the frequency bands listed below, including Earth Station in Motion ESIM operations in these bands. We will also permit non-U.S.licensed satellite operators to receive a single grant with U.S. market access and blanket-licensed earth station operating authority. As proposed, the unified license will be held by the satellite operator, including authority for the blanket-licensed earth stations. We make the unified licensing framework available to operators in the following frequency bands:
Non-Voice, Non-Geostationary MobileSatellite Service MSS: 137138 MHz, 148
150.05 MHz, 399.9400.05 MHz, and 400.15
401 MHz;
1.5/1.6 GHz MSS: 15251559 MHz and 1626.51660.5 MHz;
1.6/2.4 GHz MSS: 16101626.5 MHz and 2483.52500 MHz;
2 GHz MSS: 20002020 MHz and 2180
2200 MHz;
GSO FSS: 10.712.2 GHz, 1414.5 GHz, 18.318.8 GHz, 19.720.2 GHz, 28.3528.6
GHz, 29.2530 GHz, 4042 GHz, and 48.2
50.2 GHz;
NGSO FSS: 10.712.7 GHz, 1414.5 GHz, 17.818.6 GHz, 18.819.4 GHz, 19.620.2
GHz, 28.3529.1 GHz, 29.530 GHz, 4042
GHz, and 48.250.2 GHz; and GSO and NGSO MSS: 19.720.2 GHz and 29.530 GHz.

As stated in the proposed rule, we will exclude from unified licensing any fixed-satellite service FSS operations under 10 GHz in light of ongoing Commission rulemakings and the unique, transitional status of some FSS
operations in these bands. In addition, we will allow only blanket-licensed earth station operations to be included in a unified license. Thus, unified licensing will not be available in any frequency band shared with UMFUS.
But in bands adjacent to UMFUS
operations, FSS operations are authorized on a blanket-licensed basis today without any coordination with UMFUS. We reject any suggestion to revisit blanket FSS licensing in such bands. Similarly, we find no basis in the record to exclude from eligibility ESIM
operations in the 28.3528.6 GHz band adjacent to the 27.528.35 GHz band shared with UMFUS. The issue of outof-band emissions from ESIMs operating in the 28.3528.6 GHz band is currently being explored in a separate rulemaking and is not affected by the licensing posture of an ESIM in a separate earth station authorization or a unified license. In either case, ESIMs will have
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to comply with any revised out-of-band emissions requirement adopted in that rulemaking.
We similarly do not believe that we should increase burdens on blanketlicensed earth station deployment pursued through a unified license, as opposed to through existing blanketlicensing options, by requiring registration or notification of the ubiquitously deployed stations. Any such information-gathering for blanketlicensed earth station operations, if appropriate, would be more efficiently pursued with regard to specific rulemakings and frequency bands.
Regarding the information omitted from a unified license application because it is duplicative or unnecessary, we note that the application will constitute a complete proposal for the satellite system, including the blanket-licensed earth station operations. If, after review of the complete application, a party has outstanding technical concerns, it may address them during the comment period.
In addition, we do not believe that the earth station technical showings currently required by 47 CFR
25.115g1 and 25.132 are necessary for terrestrial operators to review and should not be replaced with a certification requirement. These showings are intended to confirm compliance with two-degree spacing limits for GSO FSS satellites. Given that satellite operators are currently allowed to certify compliance with two-degree spacing limits instead of providing technical showings, and the experience of satellite commenters that such technical demonstrations are unnecessary to confirm the earth stations compliance with two-degree limits, we do not believe that the burden of providing these demonstrations is justified by their purpose. In any event, adjacent-band terrestrial operators will have an opportunity to comment on any unified license application including ESIM or other blanket-licensed earth station authority, and they may request additional information regarding the earth station operations. If an UMFUS
operator experienced interference due to adjacent-band operations of a unified licensee, it could address its concerns to the licensee directly or to the Commission.
The unified license will not be a separate license that a satellite operator has to obtain in addition to its existing satellite license. Rather, it will constitute a space station license that also includes authority for the operation of earth stations with that particular geostationary-satellite orbit GSO space station or those non-geostationary
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satellite orbit NGSO space stations.
Whether a satellite operator chooses to include such earth station authority or not, the space station authority will remain as it is today. The earth station authorization may include some or all of the frequency bands authorized for the associated space stations.
In response to a request for clarification, we affirm that requests for modification or renewal, special temporary authority, and application amendments related to space station operations, earth station operations, or both, can be made in the narrative portion of an application in the unified license file. While a unified license contains authority for both space station and earth station operations, we consider such a license to be an extension of the satellite licensing process, to be held by the satellite operator and applied for in the International Bureau Filing System IBFS using the general satellite licensing procedures. Accordingly, for any renewal applications, we will apply the deadlines and procedures for renewal of the space station authority to the entire unified license, and not consider any potentially conflicting requirements for renewal of the earth station authority. In addition, since there are no Commission licenses for multiple GSO-satellite systems, if a GSO
satellite under a unified license became inoperable at the assigned orbital location e.g., due to an in-orbit failure or end-of-life deorbiting, the unified license would cease, including all earth station authority to communicate with that satellite. The earth stations that formerly operated with that retired satellite could operate under a separate unified license authorizing communication with a replacement satellite, under a unified license for a non-replacement satellite, or under a separate earth station license. Only the earth stations authority to operate with the retired satellite would cease. For an NGSO system license, which is typically a type of blanket license for space stations, the loss of a single space station would not usually terminate the license.
We also direct the International Bureau to consider and release, as appropriate, further guidance regarding the implementation of a unified licensing framework in an explanatory public notice consistent with the intent of this rulemaking to simplify and streamline, to the maximum extent practicable, the authorization of space stations and earth stations through a unified license. We decline to postpone the effectiveness of the unified license framework until after an explanatory
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