Mary-Louise Hoffman
Intelsat sent to the Federal Communications Commission a plan to vacate some C-band spectrum to help accelerate the deployment of 5G wireless services throughout the U.S.
The satellite operator said Friday it would transition more than 80 customers into the upper 200 megahertz portion of the spectrum and install 60K filter systems nationwide to prevent 5G networks from interfering with C-band satellite signals.
Maxar Technologies and Northrop Grumman received contracts to help Intelsat build seven satellites for the migration of media broadcast services to the 4.0-4.2 gigahertz frequency.
Michael DeMarco, chief services officer of Intelsat, said the company worked with the FCC, other operators, vendors and stakeholders to create a path for accelerated clearing initiative.
The plan submitted for FCC review also includes consolidation of telemetry, tracking and control antennas into two sites within the East and West Coasts.
Intelsat added it will partner with ATCi, Convergent, USSI Global and Wesco on ground infrastructure transition and installation efforts.
