Intelsat Planned
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June 19, 2020 Marlene H. Dortch Secretary Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, SW Washington, DC 20554 Re: Submission for the Record – Transition Plan Expanding Flexible Use of the 3.7 to 4.2 GHz Band GN Docket Nos. 18-122, 20-173 Dear Ms. Dortch: Intelsat License LLC (“Intelsat”)1 submits its C-band Transition Plan pursuant to 47 C.F.R. § 27.1412(d) and the Federal Communications Commission’s (the “Commission”) March 3, 2020 Report and Order.2 This Transition Plan details the necessary steps to be taken and estimated costs that Intelsat anticipates incurring in transitioning all existing services it provides to customers in the contiguous United States (“CONUS”) out of the lower 300 MHz of the C-band spectrum by the accelerated relocation deadlines in the Report and Order. This transition is a complex and challenging undertaking -- one that Intelsat has been preparing for with more than two years of planning and engineering undertaken in conjunction with Intelsat’s customers, industry stakeholders, vendors, and other space station operators. While there are a number of component parts to Intelsat’s Transition Plan, they have been carefully coordinated and are highly interdependent. Many activities are already well underway. As noted herein, however, the identification of claimed earth stations will need further refinement once the Commission has finalized the list of incumbent earth stations and the list of those earth stations that have opted out. Intelsat looks forward to working with all C-band stakeholders in implementing this Transition Plan. Please contact the undersigned with any questions regarding this matter. 1 Intelsat License LLC, an FCC satellite licensee, and its affiliated entity Intelsat US LLC, which provides operational services to Intelsat License LLC, are collectively referred to in the Transition Plan as “Intelsat.” Intelsat filed an election form to accept the Commission’s accelerated relocation framework and deadlines on May 26, 2020. 2 See Expanding Flexible Use of the 3.7 to 4.2 GHz Band, Report and Order and Proposed Modification, 35 FCC Rcd. 2343, paras. 302-06 (2020) [hereinafter “Report and Order”]. Respectfully submitted, Intelsat License LLC Michelle V. Bryan Secretary, Intelsat License LLC, and Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer, Intelsat US LLC 7900 Tysons One Place McLean, VA 22102-5972 Enclosures Intelsat C-Band Clearing Transition Plan Appendices: Earth Station Listings 2 Intelsat C-Band Clearing Transition Plan 6/19/2020 1 Table of Contents 2 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 4 3 Satellite and Launch Program ........................................................................................................ 7 3.1 Overview ................................................................................................................................. 7 3.2 Galaxy Fleet Satellite Replacement Plan ............................................................................... 9 3.3 Implementation of Compression/Upgrades to Reclaim Spectrum ....................................... 11 3.4 Transitioning Cable Programmers and Their Earth Station Affiliates................................... 13 3.5 Transitioning Broadcast, Religious, Radio and Data Customers ......................................... 14 3.6 New Satellite Launch Program ............................................................................................. 16 4 TT&C Gateway Relocation and Ground Systems Grooming ....................................................... 18 4.1 Phase I Transition Activities.................................................................................................. 19 4.1.1 Paumalu Teleport .......................................................................................................... 19 4.1.2 Brewster Teleport .......................................................................................................... 20 4.2 Phase II Transition Activities................................................................................................. 20 4.2.1 East Coast Consolidated TT&C/Gateway Teleport ...................................................... 21 4.2.2 Latin America Teleport .................................................................................................. 21 4.2.3 Hartebeesthoek, South Africa Teleport ......................................................................... 22 4.3 Summary of Antenna Relocations ........................................................................................ 22 4.4 TT&C Antennas for the Seven New Galaxy Satellites ......................................................... 23 5 Work Associated with Repacking the C-Band .............................................................................. 23 5.1 Process and Communications about Customer Transitions ................................................ 24 5.2 Earth Station Change Types ................................................................................................ 25 5.2.1 Frequency Change [F] .................................................................................................. 25 5.2.2 Transponder Reassignment of In-Orbit Protection Bandwidth [R] ............................... 25 5.2.3 Polarity Changes [P] ..................................................................................................... 26 5.2.4 Satellite Changes [S]..................................................................................................... 26 5.2.5 Compression/Technology Upgrades Required [C] ....................................................... 26 5.3 Filter Installation .................................................................................................................... 27 5.3.1 Filter Versions ............................................................................................................... 27 5.3.2 Phase I Filtering ............................................................................................................ 28 5.3.3 Phase II Filtering ........................................................................................................... 28 5.3.4 Earth Station Operator Responsibilities ........................................................................ 28 6 Customer Migration Plans ............................................................................................................ 30 6.1 Transition Plan (Chronological) ............................................................................................ 30 6.1.1 Table 1 Phase I Grooming Plan Transition Activities (Chronological) .......................... 30 2 6.1.2 Table 2 Phase II Grooming Plan Transition Activities (Chronological) ......................... 32 6.2 Transition Plan (Customer-Centric) ...................................................................................... 34 6.2.1 Table 3 Phase I Grooming Plan Transition Activities (Customer-Centric) ................... 34 6.2.2 Table 4 Phase II Grooming Plan Transition Activities (Customer-Centric) .................. 37 6.3 Satellite Transponder Loading View ..................................................................................... 39 6.3.1 Figure 1 Cable Neighborhoods C-Band Loading – Current ......................................... 40 6.3.2 Figure 2 Cable Neighborhoods C-Band Loading – End of Phase I .............................. 41 6.3.3 Figure 3 Cable Neighborhoods C-Band Loading – End of Phase II ............................. 42 6.3.4 Figure 4 Broadcast, Radio and Data C-Band Loading - Current .................................. 43 6.3.5 Figure 5 Broadcast, Radio and Data C-Band Loading – End of Phase I ..................... 44 6.3.6 Figure 6 Broadcast, Radio and Data C-Band Loading – End of Phase II .................... 45 6.4 Customer Services Not Requiring a Move ........................................................................... 46 6.5 Non-CONUS Services in the Lower 300 MHz ...................................................................... 46 7 Intelsat’s Earth Station Migration Plan ......................................................................................... 47 7.1 Interim Earth Station and Antenna Data Set Explained ....................................................... 47 7.2 Cable Headends ................................................................................................................... 47 7.3 Galaxy 18 and Galaxy 23 Antenna Seeding ........................................................................ 47 7.4 Compression ......................................................................................................................... 48 7.5 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ................................................................. 48 7.6 Broadcast, Religious, Radio and Data Customers’ Affiliate Earth Station Scoping ............. 49 8 Transition Plan Summary ............................................................................................................. 50 8.1 Program Management .......................................................................................................... 50 8.2 High Level Costs ................................................................................................................... 51 8.3 High Level Timeline .............................................................................................................