International Bureau Extends Earth Station Filing Window

Posted on June 28th, 2018 by

Back in April, the FCC’s International Bureau announced a freeze on the filing of new earth station licenses and fixed microwave filings in the 3.7-4.1 GHz frequency band. As an exception to the freeze, the Bureau also announced a 90-day window ending July 18, 2018 for entities to voluntarily register or modify receive only earth stations, among others. That has resulted in a flurry of filings for C-band receive only dishes, pushing the International Bureau Filing System (IBFS) to its limits.

On June 21, 2018, recognizing the difficulties applicants are having with the system, and the complexity of the filings that are necessary, the Bureau extended the deadline to October 17, 2018. Having assisted several clients with these filings, we agree with the difficulties and with the extension. If you have not filed to register your C-band dish, we recommend that you do so. It is widely believed that portions of this frequency band are going to be opened for broadband use, and receive-only earth stations that are not registered will be subject to interference received by new users of the band.