The International Bureau's public notice on satellites with coordinated power levels beyond FCC routine limits (see 1807270015) needs clarification, Eutelsat said Thursday in a docket 12-267 petition for clarification or declaratory ruling. Last month's PN listed 50 such satellites and said they aren't obliged to further coordinate power levels with applicants and operators who are seeking U.S. market access and file requests after the date of notification. In its petition, Eutelsat said the agency needs to make clear that continuation of those nonroutine transmission levels is limited to previously authorized power levels and that any inaccurate notification information about power levels can't be used to allow higher-power operations or constrain satellite operations at routine power levels.
Iridium hasn't shown any technical analysis to back its opposition to earth stations in motion (ESIM) sharing the 29.25-29.3 GHz band with its non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) mobile satellite service feeder link station operations, ViaSat said in an FCC docket 17-95 posting Thursday. It said the 29.25-29.5 GHz band "is clearly underutilized," with Iridium using only 50 MHz. It said with ESIMs operating in the same envelope as very small aperture terminals, there's no reason ESIMs shouldn't be allowed to share the spectrum. And it said any aggregate inference to Iridium satellite receivers could be monitored and resolved down the road, the same way the FCC is committed to address aggregate interference from multiple NGSOs into geostationary satellites. Iridium outside counsel didn't comment.
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology signed off on satellite startup Swarm receiving orbital data from its constellation that's subject of an Enforcement Bureau investigation, said an experimental license grant last week. Swarm last month asked for agency OK so other satellite operators and federal agencies would have access to current orbital parameters for its four SpaceBee satellites that were launched without FCC authorization (see 1807180020). The agency said Thursday its investigation into that launch remains ongoing. Swarm also has a pending experimental license application for launch of more cubesats (see 1806110004).
NASA hired Maxar Technologies' SSL to do a study about the commercial habitats in space as satellite manufacturing facilities, Maxar said Wednesday. It said it will study the feasibility of habitable space platforms for building commercial satellites and potential new capabilities and business paradigms.
Having taken great pains to make sure its U.S. market access application for its planned low earth orbit (LEO) constellation met FCC milestone rules, OneWeb in International Bureau replies Monday said it shouldn't be disadvantaged for now seeking to add more satellites to that market access grant in light of the agency relaxing those rules. It responded to opposition from other non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite operators (see 1808080003). OneWeb said SpaceX and SES/O3b concerns about more interference are misleading and inaccurate and that increasing the number of LEO satellites to 1,980 will better allow coordination flexibility with other NGSO operators. It said the 18 additional orbital planes it wants to employ will give it double coverage everywhere on Earth, boosting its ability to use satellite diversity to reduce the power level of interference at a receiver during an in-line event. The company dismissed allegations its plans to expand its LEO constellation are spectrum speculation or warehousing, saying it sold all of its satellite capacity and has multiple launch contracts for the initial 720 satellites.
Telesat's Telstar 19 Vantage high-throughput satellite is in commercial service from its orbital slot at 63 degrees west, the company said Monday. The Ku- and Ka-band satellite was launched July 22 from Cape Canaveral and will target consumer, enterprise and mobility markets in the Americas and Atlantic, it said. Hughes signed a 15-year agreement to access Telstar 19 Ka-band capacity for its own broadband satellite customers in South America, and Bell Canada will use the satellite's northern Canada Ka-band capacity for broadband connectivity in the Nunavut territory, Telesat said.
Satellite and terrestrial network operator Speedcast International will buy Globecomm Systems for an estimated $135 million, Speedcast said Monday. It said the Globecomm deal will beef up its portfolio of offerings of remote communications and multi-network infrastructure to government, maritime and enterprise sectors. It also said the deal complements the recent acquisition of UltiSat (see 1707280010), with more scale and capabilities in the government sector. Speedcast said the deal is expected to close in Q4.
The Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center GPS Directorate delivered the first GPS III satellite to Cape Canaveral, Florida, this week for the start of launch processing, it said Wednesday. Once prelaunch final testing and checkout is completed, the satellite will be loaded onto a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with launch scheduled for December, it said.
Dish Network is prodding a U.S. District judge about a pending motion to dismiss its suit against Univision. A letter (in Pacer) last week to Judge Alison Nathan of Manhattan in docket 17-cv-05148-AJN reminded her that Univision filed a motion Oct. 13 to dismiss the complaint alleging the broadcaster breached a distribution agreement by streaming some Mexican soccer matches via Facebook Live without also providing rights to Dish. The MVPD opposed the motion and said it has been 270 days since the motion was fully briefed.
More-specific criteria for determining when emergency alert system obligations come into play for certain fixed satellite service licensees take effect Sept. 24, says an FCC notice for Thursday's Federal Register. Those criteria are part of partial approval in July of a 2005 petition for reconsideration by satellite operators (see 1807250005).