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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is inviting public comments on the European Commission’s request for a waiver of licensing requirements applicable to Galileo receivers in the U.S. Comments are due Feb. 21, 2017.
If the waiver is approved, Galileo-capable receivers won’t need to be licensed in the U.S. Right now, FCC rules require that receivers operating with non-U.S. licensed space stations obtain a license.
In a letter dated Jan. 30, 2015, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration submitted a request by the European Commission for a waiver of the FCC licensing requirements to permit non-federal receive-only Earth stations — receivers — within the U.S. to operate with Galileo signals.
Interested parties can file comments on or before Feb. 21, and reply comments on or before March 23. All comments should reference IB Docket No. 17-16.
The Commerce Department has played a major role in supporting the European Commission’s waiver request. As co-chair of the GPS-Galileo Working Group on Trade and Civil Applications, the Office of Space Commerce has been discussing the FCC licensing requirement with the European Commission and assisting them with the waiver request for several years.
Norman
Pardon my ignorance – does this mean that GLONASS-capable receivers are all licensed or have a similar waiver in the USA?
William K.
It is not at all clear why there needs to be licnsing of receivers, which are not able to interfere with oters. The whole deal smells a bit like old fish, or a pay to play scheme.
Chad
A license for a device that only receives a signal and doesn’t transmit one? Crazy. Absolutely crazy.
Walter G.
What about the reciprocal arrangement? Does the EU require a license to receive GPS signals? This seems like a no brainer to me. Presumably the receivers have to pass normal non-interference certification just like every other electronic device sold in the US.
Robert Gaspirc
I have no objection to receiving other gnss signals. Hopefully the atomic time clocks are the same or at least the differences are known. Do these system have higher transmitter power? If so can these systems jam our GPS or flood the GPS with its higher transmission so that our receivers cannot hear our GPS signal?