The Commercial Satellite Industry: What’S up and What’S on the Horizon
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S. HRG. 115–569 THE COMMERCIAL SATELLITE INDUSTRY: WHAT’S UP AND WHAT’S ON THE HORIZON HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION OCTOBER 25, 2017 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( Available online: http://www.govinfo.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 35–753 PDF WASHINGTON : 2019 VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:09 Mar 27, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\GPO\DOCS\35753.TXT JACKIE SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JOHN THUNE, South Dakota, Chairman ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi BILL NELSON, Florida, Ranking ROY BLUNT, Missouri MARIA CANTWELL, Washington TED CRUZ, Texas AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota DEB FISCHER, Nebraska RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut JERRY MORAN, Kansas BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts DEAN HELLER, Nevada CORY BOOKER, New Jersey JAMES INHOFE, Oklahoma TOM UDALL, New Mexico MIKE LEE, Utah GARY PETERS, Michigan RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois CORY GARDNER, Colorado MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire TODD YOUNG, Indiana CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada NICK ROSSI, Staff Director ADRIAN ARNAKIS, Deputy Staff Director JASON VAN BEEK, General Counsel KIM LIPSKY, Democratic Staff Director CHRIS DAY, Democratic Deputy Staff Director RENAE BLACK, Senior Counsel (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:09 Mar 27, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\35753.TXT JACKIE C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on October 25, 2017 .......................................................................... 1 Statement of Senator Thune ................................................................................... 1 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 2 Statement of Senator Nelson .................................................................................. 3 Statement of Senator Wicker .................................................................................. 112 Statement of Senator Sullivan ............................................................................... 114 Statement of Senator Cortez Masto ....................................................................... 115 Statement of Senator Hassan ................................................................................. 117 Statement of Senator Gardner ............................................................................... 121 Statement of Senator Inhofe ................................................................................... 123 Statement of Senator Peters ................................................................................... 125 Statement of Senator Blumenthal .......................................................................... 127 Statement of Senator Markey ................................................................................. 129 WITNESSES Patricia Cooper, Vice President, Satellite Government Affairs, Space Explo- ration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) .................................................................... 5 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 7 Mark Dankberg, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, ViaSat, Inc. .................. 17 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 19 Stephen Spengler, Chief Executive Officer, Intelsat ............................................ 103 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 104 Greg Wyler, Founder and Executive Chairman, WorldVu Satellites Limited (OneWeb) .............................................................................................................. 107 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 109 APPENDIX Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Maggie Hassan to: Patricia Cooper ................................................................................................. 141 Mark Dankberg ................................................................................................. 142 Stephen Spengler .............................................................................................. 144 Response to written questions submitted to Greg Wyler by: Hon. Cory Booker ............................................................................................. 145 Maggie Hassan ................................................................................................. 146 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:09 Mar 27, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\35753.TXT JACKIE VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:09 Mar 27, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\35753.TXT JACKIE THE COMMERCIAL SATELLITE INDUSTRY: WHAT’S UP AND WHAT’S ON THE HORIZON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2017 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:07 a.m. in room SR–253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. John Thune, Chair- man of the Committee, presiding. Present: Senators Thune [presiding], Nelson, Wicker, Fischer, Sullivan, Inhofe, Johnson, Capito, Gardner, Young, Cantwell, Klobuchar, Blumenthal, Markey, Peters, Baldwin, Hassan, and Cortez Masto. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN THUNE, U.S. SENATOR FROM SOUTH DAKOTA The CHAIRMAN. Good morning. Welcome to today’s hearing on the state of the commercial satellite industry and the promises of next-generation satellite technology to improve the lives of Ameri- cans. I believe we’re at a critical moment in the development of sat- ellite capability, and I’m excited to hear from our panel of distin- guished witnesses today. Satellite services available today offer residential broadband at speeds substantially greater than those available just a few years ago—download speeds that meet the Federal Communications Commission’s definition of advanced telecommunications capability, and in some cases, without the strict data cap limits that have vexed users of satellite broadband in the past. Much of our tele- vision broadcast programming is delivered to broadcasters by sat- ellite with extraordinary reliability, and millions of Americans re- ceive their video service through direct broadcast satellite. This summer, the FCC for the first time authorized access to the U.S. market to a provider using a proposed constellation of 720 sat- ellites. OneWeb received approval to enter the U.S. market with an array of satellites to provide global, high-speed broadband, includ- ing in remote and hard-to-serve areas. For comparison, there are about 1,000 satellites total in operation today. This new type of service would place satellites in a much lower orbit than many of the satellites currently in operation. Similarly, SpaceX seeks to bring its satellite expertise to bear with a proposal to deploy a constellation of thousands of satellites to provide high-speed broadband. If realized, these ambitious pro- posals could completely change consumer access to broadband in (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:09 Mar 27, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\DOCS\35753.TXT JACKIE 2 rural areas as well as cities across the country and around the world. Satellite capability can also play a critical role in establishing communication after natural disasters, and it has been used by the Red Cross and others as part of the effort to reconnect the resi- dents of Puerto Rico after the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria, as well as those affected by hurricanes in Texas and Flor- ida. As with the wireless services this Committee has examined at numerous hearings, spectrum is critical to satellite services. As the value of spectrum has skyrocketed with America’s increasing de- mand for broadband, spectrum that previously had little value for mobile broadband use now faces competing demands. It is essential that any evaluation of these competing demands accurately consider the full range of spectrum uses and how best to deliver broadband and other services to the American people. The specifics of how to balance such demands in the public inter- est—things like allocating spectrum between services and between licensed and unlicensed use; setting appropriate interference levels between terrestrial and satellite uses; and determining the size, number, and location of exclusions zones—are as important as they are complex. However, they are not the subject of today’s hearing, as the FCC is addressing those matters in the ongoing Spectrum Frontiers proceeding and elsewhere. But it is important to set the broad parameters of this discus- sion. We must ensure that next-generation technologies rise or fall on their merits, including their efficiency in the use of spectrum, and ultimately their ability to meet the demands of American households for reliable high-speed broadband. Today we will have an opportunity to hear from some of the lead- ers and innovators in the field who are redefining satellite capa- bility and who can explain what satellite services can offer to ongo- ing efforts to make broadband more available to all parts of the country and the world. Wireline service, fixed and mobile wireless service,