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Spirit of British Columbia to be Refit As a part of revitalizing its fleet, the Spirit of British Columbia will undergo a major passenger services upgrade and refit this winter. Other components of the fleet renewal program include three new Super C-class vessels, a new intermediate vessel, mid-life upgrades to the existing C-class ships and terminal upgrades. The vessel will be removed from ser- vice on the Tsawwassen - Swartz Bay route for its annual refit and a complete passenger amenities renovation from Tuesday, January 4 to Thursday, March 17, 2005 inclusive. Among the many improvements planned for the Spirit of British Columbia are an expanded Passages Gift Shop, an upgraded cafeteria, a redesigned buffet, renovated washrooms, reupholstered seat- ing, and new flooring and carpeting. New passenger amenities include closed caption flat screen televisions installed in the upper passenger lounges and children's play area. On the car deck, the pet waiting area will also be improved. BC Ferries looks forward to reintroduc- ing the renovated Spirit of British Colum- bia to service with the 7:00 a.m. sailing from Tsawwassen on Friday, March 18. While the Spirit of British Columbia is out of service the Queen of Esquimalt will be the replacement vessel from January 4 to February 6, followed by the Queen of Vancouver from February 7 to March 17. FCC Promotes Deployment of Broadband on Vessels The Federal Communications Commis- sion (FCC) adopted rules that further the Commission's goal of promoting market- based deployment of broadband technolo- gies. The new licensing and service rules for satellite earth stations on vessels (ESVs) in the C and Ku bands will pro- vide regulatory certainty to ESV licensees, while protecting existing users in the bands. ESV systems generally consist of a net- work operations center, one or more land- based "gateway" earth stations and a num- ber of earth stations on vessels. ESV net- works can provide telecommunications services, including internet access, to users on cruise and merchant ships, fer- ries, barges and other vessels. Under the new rules, ESV licenses will be issued to applicants who demonstrate that they are capable of controlling all aspects of their ESV network and whocomply with applicable technical parameters in the C and Ku-bands. • In the C-band (5925-6425 and 3700- 4200 MHz) ESV operators currently share the band with the fixed terrestrial and fixed-satellite service. To protect the incumbent fixed terrestrial service, ESVs will be subject to operation and spectrum limitations and coordination require- ments. To protect fixed satellite operators, the new rules have placed power limits on ESV operations. In the Ku-band (14.0-14.5 and 11.7- 12.2 GHz) ESV coordination with the fixed terrestrial service is not required because these operations are limited in the band. In the 14.0-14.5 GHz band, ESV coordination is required near a limited number of federal government earth sta- tions. As in the C-band, the new rules place power limits on ESV operations to protect fixed satellite operators. ESVs will be permitted in portions of the "extended" Ku-band downlink (10.95-11.2 GHz and 11.45-12.2 GHz) and must accept all interference from fixed service operations. To ensure expeditious processing and regulatory certainty, the Commission adopted blanket licensing procedures and a fifteen year license term. For foreign registered ESVs, the Com- mission established a separate regulatory framework to allow communication to take place near the United States without causing harmful interference to domestic operations. 6 K D U H 7 H F K Q R O R J \ 5 H Q H Z 2 O G ) U L H Q G V K L S V 0 D N H < R X U V H O I . 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