Ofcom facilitating superfast broadband on UK aircraft
Entitled 'Earth Stations on Mobile Platforms' the Ofcom consultation should herald the introduction of vastly improved broadband services with speeds far faster than those available to airline passengers today.
The last few years has seen increasing interest in the use of Earth Stations on Mobile Platforms (ESOMPs) for providing broadband connectivity to passengers onboard moving vehicles, including aircraft.
Recent advances in stabilised antenna technology have allowed the development of earth station antennas capable of maintaining very stable pointing accuracy which allows the earth station antenna to track the satellite in earth orbit even when the earth station is mounted on a rapidly moving platform, such as an aircraft. This, in conjunction with the use of spread spectrum waveforms, has allowed ESOMPs to operate in accordance with the same technical constraints that apply to traditional fixed-sited uncoordinated FSS earth stations. With the appropriate operational controls, the technical characteristics of ESOMPs are such that they cause no more interference to neighbouring FSS networks than fixed-sited earth stations.
In recognition of these developments, the Ofcom consultation sets out its proposals for authorising the use of ESOMPs in the UK.
Several satellite operators are planning to launch commercial satellite networks in 2013/2014 that support the use of ESOMPs transmitting in the frequency band 27.5 30 GHz and receiving in the band 17.3 20.2 GHz. To facilitate the take up of these new innovative services, Ofcom is proposing to introduce a regulatory framework to allow their use.
For the consultation, Ofcom is categorising ESOMPs into three different types:
- aircraft-mounted ESOMP earth station mounted on an aircraft;
- ship-mounted ESOMP earth station mounted on a ship/vessel;
- land-based ESOMP earth station mounted on a land-based vehicle (for example a train or coach).
The key proposals for consultation include radio equipment for for aircraft and ship mounted ESOMPs which should be licensed under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 rather than licence-exempt.
Licensing of aircraft-mounted ESOMPs should be done through variation of the Aircraft Radio licence issued on Ofcom’s behalf by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) with no additional fee;
The deadline to submit responses to Ofcom is 5pm on 10 October 2013.
Ofcom expects to release a Statement on this consultation in December 2013 having taken into account stakeholder responses to its proposals. Subject to the responses, Ofcom plan to make licensing available for aircraft and ship mounted ESOMPs early in 2014.
