The C-Band Alliance (CBA) proposal for clearing part of the 3.7-4.2 GHz band claims rival plans are insufficiently voluntary, even as it would clear out its competitors and customers without incentivizing their participation, said C-band small satellite users in a docket 18-122 posting Thursday. ABS, Embratel and Hispasat -- which have opposed the CBA proposal (see 1810160046) -- said requiring a satellite operator to have had U.S. C-band revenues in 2017 to receive proceeds from a band clearing runs contrary to FCC precedent. They said their proposal would fix these problems by offering earth station owners incentives to clear the band and by allocating proceeds to all licensees and the Treasury. CBA didn't comment.
The FCC's ancillary terrestrial component rules -- aimed at letting mobile satellite service operators provide better coverage in areas tough to serve by satellite -- are a failure, with no ATC deployment made under them and no viable ATC-like service having succeeded in the marketplace, Iridium said in a docket 18-377 posting Wednesday. Iridium -- which has advocated eliminating the ATC rules -- said Ligado's own ATC plans aren't ancillary because its service would be fully terrestrial but use satellite spectrum. It said Ligado claims Iridium is trying to suppress competition are specious since Ligado is a niche satellite service provider with only a marginal presence to begin with. And it said Ligado's ATC proposal is unrelated to 5G because it involves spectrum that hasn't been recognized for 5G by international standards bodies. Ligado didn't comment Thursday.
Jury instructions and plaintiffs' standing are at the heart of a Dish Network appeal of a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) verdict by the U.S. District Court in Greensboro, North Carolina, according to rival briefs posted Tuesday with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The TCPA verdict needs to be overturned because the class is "fatally overbroad," with the appellee having defined it to include many improper plaintiffs such as thousands of nonsubscribers who never received phone calls, Dish said in a docket 18-1518 brief (in Pacer). The lower court also wrongly instructed the jury that two calls to the same phone number establish the statutory requirement of two calls to the same person, it said. Appellees Thomas Krakauer and others said (in Pacer) precedent shows the TCPA zone of interests includes call recipients even if they weren't the subscriber and intended recipient. The appellees also said Dish doesn't cite any case contrary to the prevailing view that TCPA violations inflict concrete injuries on recipients. Dish is appealing at the 7th Circuit a similar telemarketing verdict in litigation brought by the FTC and states (see 1706270061).
ViaSat and Facebook will partner on an Internet connectivity initiative in rural areas internationally, revolving around the satellite operator's community Wi-Fi hot spot service, they said Wednesday. They said Facebook is investing in the rollout of thousands of such hot spots in ViaSat's current and planned coverage footprint, with the initial focus being expansion of ViaSat's community Wi-Fi service in Mexico and a subsequent global expansion possible.
El Al Israel Airlines is using ViaSat in-flight Wi-Fi on its trans-Atlantic flights, the satellite operator said Tuesday.
The expected small satellite boom will stress different parts of the satellite infrastructure ecosystem, a Northern Sky Research analyst blogged Tuesday. NSR said manufacturing hurdles related to finding sources of space-approved components and materials mean electronic systems and subsystems are likely to be "considerable bottlenecks," while the launch industry is similarly expected to be a big bottleneck for the next decade. It said given the increasing danger of collisions in space, "rigorous" international regulations are needed to cover everything from prelaunch notification and in-orbit maneuver tracking to right-of-way evaluation, end-of-life disposal and re-entry.
Comments on the FCC's orbital debris NPRM are due April 5, replies May 17, said a notice set for Tuesday's Federal Register. Commissioners approved the notice at November's meeting (see 1811150028).
Satellite-provided Wi-Fi hot spots aimed at unconnected populations worldwide likely will generate $7.5 billion annual revenue for the satellite communications by 2027, with the industry increasingly able to target those customers because of better price-per-gigabyte competitiveness and increased focus on distribution channels, Northern Sky Research analyst Lluc Palerm-Serra blogged Tuesday. Hurdles like the income of those populations mean providers need to sometimes offer entry-level data packages with small allowances, he said: They might need to look at free access to some content, plus mobile banking and telemedicine services, to stimulate demand.
SES' AMC-10 satellite was built before current FCC orbital debris mitigation rules took effect in 2004, and its oxidizer tanks can't be vented in decommissioning, the company said in an International Bureau filing Tuesday seeking waiver of orbital debris mitigation requirements. It said the license term for the C-band satellite, at 135 degrees west, expires May 4. The company plans to begin moving it to a higher, graveyard orbit before then.
Investment in emerging space companies topped $17.8 billion 2000-18, with the past two years generating more than $7 billion, Northern Sky Research said Tuesday. The market for novel space applications and new players is a big investment opportunity, but it has big challenges given its capital spending-intensive nature, NSR said. It said more merger and acquisition activity will likely follow and some markets are showing signs of startup saturation.