DirecTV wants to temporarily move its T15 satellite from 102.75 degrees west to 100.85 degrees west and operate it there. In an International Bureau filing Friday, it said it wants approval to start the 30-day drift effective Sept. 4, and the relocation is to fill a temporary need for more Ku-band DBS capacity at the nominal 101 degrees west orbital location. It said it plans to file a separate special temporary authority request to relocate T8, currently at 100.85 degrees west, to 100.75 degree west once traffic is transferred from T8 to T15 and to file an additional, 180-day STA request to operate T15 at 100.85 degrees until it returns to its permanently licensed orbital slot.
Comments are due Sept. 7 on the state of voice, video, audio and data service delivery via satellite for the communications market report required in Q4 under the Ray Baum Act, said the FCC International Bureau Friday. The public notice wants input on criteria that could be used for such an analysis and on whether laws, regulations or market practices are a barrier to competitive entry.
The cruise ship market's demand for bandwidth points to "the bandwidth battles ... only beginning," Northern Sky Research analyst Brad Grady blogged Wednesday. He noted 570 Gbps of capacity growth is expected by 2027.
SES wants U.S. market access for the Gibraltar-licensed NSS-11 satellite. In an International Bureau filing Wednesday, it said approval would let the company meet Northwest U.S. and Pacific region demand for Ku-band services from the satellite's 176 degrees east orbital slot, and that it wants to start service to U.S. customers by Jan. 1. It said the satellite was launched in October 2000.
Boeing will buy small satellite services company Millennium Space Systems to expand its satellite and space portfolio, it said Thursday. Boeing expects to close on Millennium in Q3.
The FCC approved another non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite constellation with the release Thursday of an authorization for Karousel, as expected (see 1808100037). The agency also signed off on NGSO constellation applications by Audacy, O3b (see 1806050057) SpaceX, OneWeb and Space Norway (see 1803300014).
The "dramatic," 99.4 percent reduction in power in the 1526-1536 MHz band for Ligado's proposed ancillary terrestrial IoT network (see 1805310069) was aimed at addressing the concerns of federal, nonfederal, aviation and non-aviation users of nearby spectrum, Ligado Chief Legal Officer Valerie Green told FCC Office of Engineering and Technology and Wireless Bureau staffers, recounted a docket 11-109 posting Wednesday.
Ligado wants to relocate its MSAT-2 satellite from 103.3 degrees west to 106.5 degrees west, it said in an FCC International Bureau special temporary authority request posted Friday.
Citing technical difficulties with its International Bureau Filing System (IBFS), the bureau signed off on OneWeb's request to extend the deadlines for comments on its V-band petition and its proposed expansion of its non-geostationary satellite constellation granted U.S. market access in June (see 1808080003). In its approval Thursday, the bureau said IBFS suffered unspecified technical problems between July 30 and Aug. 8 that affected filings in the two proceedings. OneWeb requested an extension to Aug. 27, but the bureau said legal staff of parties that had filed comments in the proceedings and were potentially affected by an extension asked it be lengthened to past the Labor Day holiday; the bureau set the new deadline for Sept. 12. Asked about the IBFS issues, the FCC didn't comment Friday.
The FCC's not having a seat on the National Space Council is "a glaring omission" given the agency's satellite service licensing and "oversight of airwaves" being important for space issues going forward, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel tweeted Thursday.