U.S. Commercial Air-Ground Services USA/CAN/ECC Spectrum Management Consultation, June Washington DC FM48#7-Info002 (US ECC(12)025)
800 MHz MHz / MHz Commercial aviation air-ground radiotelephone service Can provide communication services to all aviation markets, including commercial, governmental, and private aircraft Services include, but are not limited to, voice telephony, broadband internet access, and data. However, fixed services and ancillary land mobile services are not permitted.
Licenses Auctioned in May 2006 (Auction 65) Two Licensees –Gogo (Aircell): 3 MHz, 31M –LiveTV (JetBlue): 1 MHz, 7 M
Services Gogo Internet service for WiFi enabled devices commercial aircraft –AirTran, Virgin America, Delta, Alaska, American, US Air, Frontier, Air Canada and United business aircraft
Services (cont.) LiveTV (Airfone) Purchased Verizon’s Airfone business in 2008 Offers voice and simple date service (e- mail, SMS) Jetblue, United, Frontier
Recent Developments Jan Gogo is in negotiations with WCS operators to add WCS C and D blocks ( MHz and MHz) for its ground to aircraft transmitions (pending regulatory approvals) May Gogo reached an agreement to acquire the Airfone business unit from LiveTV (pending regulatory approvals) May Gogo agreed to partner with satellite equipment provider, AeroSat, to bring Ku-satellite services for transoceanic routes May Qualcomm filed a petition for rulemaking asking the Commission to initiate a proceeding that would establish a new terrestrial-based, air-ground mobile service in the GHz band. Qualcomm’s proposed service would be used as a secondary basis to provide multi-gigabit per second broadband connectivity to aircraft flying within the continental United States.
Technical The peak ERP of airborne mobile station transmitters must not exceed 12 Watts The peak ERP of ground station transmitters must not exceed 500 Watts Out of band emissions. The power of any emission outside of the authorized operating frequency ranges must be attenuated below the transmitting power (P) by a factor of at least log (P) dB
450 MHz / General aviation air-ground radiotelephone service Can provide a variety of telecommunications services to private aircraft such as small single engine planes and corporate jets