- Investment firm Grain Management is asking the FCC to expand use of the 800 MHz band for satellite services
- Grain is in the process of acquiring the 800 MHz airwaves from T-Mobile
- Analyst Joe Madden says 800 MHz is well-suited for satellite coverage but consumer demand is uncertain
Private investment firm Grain Management wants to make 800 MHz spectrum available to satellite operators for direct-to-device (D2D) services. But first, it needs permission from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The company submitted a request to the agency last month proposing a series of waivers that would allow for a wider range of operations for the 800 MHz Enhanced Specialized Mobile Radio (ESMR) spectrum.
The ESMR band was originally designed for specialized land mobile radio systems like the kind Nextel Communications offered with the famous “walkie talkie” feature. Sprint in 2005 acquired Nextel, which steadily declined until its network was shut down in 2013. With T-Mobile’s purchase of Sprint in 2020, the 800 MHz licenses went into the T-Mobile fold.
However, T-Mobile built its 5G network using 600 MHz as the foundational layer and initially the plan was for the 800 MHz spectrum to go to Dish Network. But Dish didn’t have the financial wherewithal to buy it, forcing T-Mobile to put the spectrum up for auction. No one ponied up the $3.59 billion asking price and last year, T-Mobile struck a $2.9 billion deal with Grain Management. The deal also called for T-Mobile to acquire all of Grain’s 600 MHz licenses.
Grain's plan for utilities
When Grain announced that it was buying the 800 MHz spectrum from T-Mobile, the company said it planned to initially make the acquired spectrum portfolio available to U.S. utilities to support mission-critical communications, improve grid resilience and enhance emergency response capabilities.
Utilities are still mentioned as part of Grain’s target audience in its current application before the FCC, but it also speaks to a much wider range of services, including the aforementioned satellite D2D operators. Nationwide facilities-based terrestrial mobile operators, rural and regional commercial mobile operators and providers of enterprise and wireless data services also need low-band spectrum that can be quickly and cost-effectively deployed, according to Grain.
“Assuming the commission approves the assignment of the 800 MHz licenses to Grain and provides the regulatory relief requested, Grain will aggressively pursue commercial arrangements with a wide range of entities throughout the nation to deploy this spectrum in a manner that serves the public interest,” the company told the FCC.
Analyst: 800 MHz is good for D2D
Even though it seems as though everyone is trying to get in on the D2D gold rush, it remains a big unknown as to how many consumers are going to pay for satellite coverage.
“There is definitely a risk in the market,” said Mobile Experts President Joe Madden. “D2D operators are spending billions for spectrum and market position. By my estimation, the D2D services market may not be big enough to justify all of this investment.”
However, the 800 MHz ESMR band is a good choice for D2D usage and it should conform with most existing technical requirements for Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS) if it’s licensed as a nationwide band and not by smaller regions, he told Fierce.
“In my opinion, enterprise applications like utilities will be absolutely critical to success, as consumers won’t be enough to make these D2D constellations profitable,” he concluded.