Publications

NTIA recommends to the FCC that it seek public comment on new or updated guidance to ensure protection of the GPS L1 signal at 1575.42 MHz from Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) providers’ Direct-to-Device (D2D) user equipment operating in 1610-1660.5 MHz.  NTIA further recommends that D2D devices unable to satisfy certain emission limits be incapable of operating on airplanes.

NTIA formally identifies the 1675-1680 MHz band as suitable for repurposing to commercial services. The band presently is used to support the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, and the letter notes that new commercial services would have to protect four incumbent sites used for these purposes. To facilitate approval of new commercial sites, NTIA has established the “Drocella Methodology,” named after the highly regarded former chief of NTIA’s Spectrum Engineering & Analysis Division.

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.

NTIA applauds the FCC's initiative on Promoting the Development of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Technologies and Solutions. The Commission is seeking to understand and solve the challenges facing the Nation’s current Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) system. NTIA submits the attached “Inventory of Complementary, Alternative, and Augmentative PNT Solutions” to aid this important work.

NTIA supports improving submarine cable security, but cautions the Commission to avoid duplicative licensing requirements that applicants or licensees already comply with via agreements with the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector.

In opening this inquiry, the Federal Communications Commission grapples with vulnerabilities in a bedrock United States Government-provided technology, the Global Positioning System (GPS). 

The Commission’s “whole of government” approach aligns with Executive Branch operations, authorities and initiatives. In these comments, NTIA highlights the key roles Federal agencies play in sustaining and improving Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) services.