NTIA Comments on the Upper C-band

NTIA appreciates the Commission’s issuance of the Notice of Inquiry, which comes at a crucial time for solidifying U.S. leadership in spectrum optimization and commercial innovation, as laid out by the Trump administration.

While the Upper C-band has no federal allocations, there are important federal uses both in the band and in the adjacent band. To make spectrum available in the band for new services, the Commission should consider the impacts on adjacent aviation safety systems, as well as federal users’ reliance on the band for statutorily directed federal missions, including through contractual relationships with commercial satellite providers. With sufficient preparation and coordination between the Commission and key federal stakeholders – the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force; the National Science Foundation (NSF); and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – the U.S. can successfully and timely expand commercial services in the band to support the increasingly connected future that lies ahead.