Satellite Industry Still at Odds Over NGSO Domestic Coverage Requirement

the requirement. SpaceX said different space architectures are obviating the need to proscribe such coverage. That it and OneWeb plan to cover the entire U.S. means other operators should be allowed to go with different business models addressing different customer needs, SpaceX said. Boeing said Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (I) is wrong to think NGSO operators lack commercial incentive to provide broadband access there (see 1801080015), since rural and remote connectivity is one of the chief business cases for NGSO constellations. It said the polar, near-polar or highly elliptical orbits being proposed by OneWeb, Telesat Canada, LeoSat, Kepler Communications, Theia and Space Norway would mean good coverage of high latitude areas such as Alaska and the Arctic. Boeing said it disagreed that the FCC should keep the domestic coverage requirement and not give waivers to operators of mega constellations, since there's no clear line determining when too many satellites means not meriting a waiver. SES/O3b also has pushed for ending the domestic coverage requirement (see 1801300008). However, in joint comments in the docket posted Tuesday, Hughes, Intelsat and OneWeb said there aren't any compelling rationales for eliminating the requirement. They said the supposed additional flexibility from such a rule change would be at the expense of rural consumers, and that the agency is willing to grant waivers to the requirement when justified means there's no reason to change the rule.