Ligado's terrestrial broadband service plans are perhaps "the greatest current threat" to the position, navigation and timing universe, PNTAdvisory Board Vice Chairman Bradford Parkinson wrote Tuesday for GPS World. Such terrestrial transmitters "effectively become jammers" for some GPS receivers. He said the board is framing a response to the Ligado proposal. He said the company, meeting with the board in November, offered to reduce power in the 1526-1536 MHz band: That "sounds like a major move in the right direction," but the offer also raised new questions about what that would mean for increased tower density and how permanent those power constraints would be. He said the current proposal "is unacceptable" because of what it would do to many PNT applications, and the new power limit proposal would still violate the 1 dB rise in carrier-to-noise ratio -- the standard for tolerance interference measurement -- for many PNT users. He said if the FCC continues to consider the Ligado proposal, the agency should require it to deploy transmitters for real-world open-sky testing -- at the firm's expense -- to assess harms to PNT accuracy. Parkinson has been critical of the 1526-1536 MHz band plans (see 1706290043). The satellite company didn't comment Wednesday.

The rollout of SiriusXM's 360L platform will start with the 2019 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup, the company said Monday. It said 360L features include content recommendations based on listening preferences, on-demand programming, additional channels that previously were available only online, individual listener profiles and an updated user interface.

Satellite use of the V-band must overcome issues like rain fade and it needs technology development, Northern Sky Research analyst Jose Del Rosario blogged Sunday, also saying interest revolves around spectrum availability and better end-user experience. He said the band won't take over such market segments as enterprise data, broadband access and backhaul but will be a competitive price offering and provide higher bandwidth per unit. Operators employing the V-band will be able to claim "a decent amount" of market share from high-throughput Ku- and Ka-band systems, he said.

Hughes Network Systems said "facilities through which satellite-based broadband networks deliver high-quality, high-speed, affordable broadband services to anywhere in the United States, including unserved and remote regions, substantially increased in 2017 with the deployment of new, advanced high-throughput satellite systems." The EchoStar company's filing posted Tuesday in docket 17-199 on an FCC inquiry into advanced telecom capability deployment under Telecom Act Section 706 cited deployments by Hughes and ViaSat, and a Hughes partnership with OneWeb "to produce the ground network system that will support" that company's nongeostationary orbit satellite constellation. Hughes took issue with comments by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Next Century Cities that sought policies to "effectively eliminate a technology that enhances broadband competition, and thereby deny a broadband service option for many Americans."

FAA updated maximum probable loss (MPL) methodology used in commercial space launch insurance didn't re-evaluate probability thresholds -- used to divide the risk of loss between launch companies and the government as it partially indemnifies them -- under the new methodology, GAO reported Tuesday. The update was required by 2015's Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act. GAO said the FAA also failed to consider the direct costs to the government and private launchers of implementing that updated methodology -- costs such as insurance premiums and indemnification liability. It said the agency was too limited in its consultation with the commercial space sector and insurance providers in evaluating its MPL methodology. A Transportation Department letter included with the report concurred with the draft recommendations and said DOT will provide a detailed response to each.

Asteroid mining company Planetary Resources launched its Arkyd-6 cubesat aimed at demonstrating technology designed to detect water resources in space, it said Friday. It said the cubesat's data will be used in developing its Arkyd-301 explorer.

The "slow erosion" of exclusive spectrum for satellite means its operators and users "can no longer presume" the FCC and NTIA can guarantee interference-free operation, Aerospace Corp.'s Center for Space Policy and Strategy reported Thursday. CSPS said FCC studies of spectrum sharing or reallocation should, at a minimum, consider the economic benefits of existing satellite-based services, whether spectrum repurposing would have societal benefit, and the technical feasibility and costs of mitigating terrestrial interference. CSPS said such studies should look at the time required to develop, test, manufacture and install technical mitigation.

The FCC International Bureau rescinded Spectrum Five's 2012 grant of access to the U.S. market for a geostationary satellite to operate at 119.25 degrees west. An order Friday said Spectrum Five failed to meet its five-year milestone requirement of launch and starting operations, and the $750,000 outstanding balance on its bond goes to the Treasury. The company in August surrendered an authorization it had been granted for a satellite to operate at 95.15 degrees west.

O3b committed to coordinate its non-geostationary orbit network with Iridium in the 29.1-29.3 and 19.4-19.6 GHz bands, and Iridium hasn't shown any harm from O3b operations, so its petition to deny or have O3b removed from the NGSO processing round (see 1801100044) should be rejected, O3b said in an opposition filed Wednesday. It told the FCC International Bureau Iridium has no standing to object to O3b's planned use of the 19.7-20.2 and 29.5030 GHz bands since it doesn't use them, or to challenge O3b's status in the processing rounds in which it isn't participating. And O3b said changing the designation of its planned feeder link operations doesn't change their operational characteristics or make them "any more interfering." Iridium said Thursday it "stand[s] by our filing" and O3b "should either be removed from the processing round or denied access to Iridium’s feeder link band."

Ligado's arguments to the FCC Media Bureau about interoperability issues between its proposed broadband terrestrial wireless network and Iridium's Certus receivers (see 1712190029) aren't germane, Iridium said in an RM-11681 filing posted Wednesday. It said Ligado is wrong in its claim of Iridium inconsistency between the ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) proceeding and Certus proceeding, since an ATC network is more likely to interfere with Iridium than mobile satellite service earth stations. It also said in the ATC proceeding, Iridium discussed broad deployment of all types of L-band terminals, which today number close to 1 million, while the Certus proceeding's focus is on terminals that would be operated principally on airplanes and ships. It said Ligado never addressed Iridium's technical showing demonstrating there's no legitimate worry about Certus terminals interfering with Ligado receivers. Ligado didn't comment Thursday.