The Supreme Court on Monday denied a petition for a writ of certiorari from EchoStar/Dish Network in its fight with Florida over the state's communications services tax. The petitioners appealed a Florida Supreme Court decision last year rejecting a 2005 lawsuit alleging the tax violates the Commerce Clause (see 1711280001). Dish didn't comment.

OneWeb plans to bump up the scale of its V-band medium earth orbit (MEO) broadband satellite constellation. In an FCC International Bureau filing Thursday, it asked to amend its petition for U.S. market access (see 1703020036) to increase the number of MEOs from 1,280 to 2,560 and add Ka-, Ku- and E-band frequencies. Citing the FCC's more liberal milestone rules for non-geostationary orbit satellites adopted in September (see 1709260035), OneWeb said it took a new look at what it would have proposed for its MEO and low earth orbit constellations under that new milestone regime. It said it still plans to launch its first satellites in May, and the expanded MEO constellation would let it better target capacity to areas generating the most data traffic in its network. The company also wants to be able to use a variety of Ka-, Ku- and E-band frequencies, including the 17.8-18.1 and 18.1-18.3 GHz bands, which aren't allocated for fixed satellite service use.

Intelsat and Orbital ATK signed a second contract for a mission extension vehicle (MEV) to provide life extension services for an Intelsat satellite, Orbital ATK said Thursday. It said the first MEV being produced for Intelsat is scheduled for launch late this year, with the second to begin service in mid-2020. It said system-level testing on MEV-1 is to begin this spring.

Intelsat wants the special temporary authority to operate Intelsat 1R at 157.1 degrees east to be made permanent. In an FCC International Bureau filing Wednesday, the company asked for a license modification to continue providing C- and Ku-band services there instead of at its licensed location of 50.1 degrees west.

Satellite communications for unmanned aircraft systems represent potentially $19.7 billion in revenue between 2016 and 2026, and commercial UAS imaging will be worth a cumulative $4.3 billion, Northern Sky Research said Thursday. NSR said accelerated adoption for government and military use worldwide is driving the potential UAS satcom and imaging growth. With more UAS use in the U.S., China and Middle East, more than 8,000 satcom units will be in service by 2026, NSR said.

Dish Network objections to the class in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act class-action complaint ignored the court's direction to use existing data when it used new and unvetted data to create inconsistencies, the plaintiff said in a docket 1:14-CV-333 response (in Pacer) filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Greensboro, North Carolina. Plaintiff Thomas Krakauer derided Dish's analysis -- which found problems with 98 percent of the plaintiff's proposed class list of more than 11,000 -- and said its "near universal objections" overlook numerous reasons why a "superficial inconsistency" doesn't equate to a reasonable dispute about a class member's identity. The company's objection (in Pacer) last month to a previous plaintiff motion asking the court to enter judgment or authorize disbursal of the jury's award drew opposition from Krakauer. The sides have been at odds before over verifying class membership (see 1705110010).

Spire is asking for FCC International Bureau approval to deploy 872 satellites in the second phase of its Lemur-2 constellation. An application Tuesday said the number of simultaneously operational satellites won't exceed 175. Spire also asked for authority to use multiple primary downlinks and uplinks to give it more flexibility in spectrum coordination, though only one primary downlink and uplink would be used for any one transmission between a satellite and ground station. It said that frequency would depend on Spire discussions with third parties, including NTIA. The earth imaging company also asked for bureau authority to measure refraction, reflection and other signal distortion with its previously authorized 100 Phase 1B and 1C satellites. The FCC in 2016 deferred action on Spire's 872-satellite Phase II request.

Though OneWeb Chairman Greg Wyler indirectly owns 11.84 percent of the company, that shouldn't stop his SOM1101 from applying for FCC satellite system authorization, Boeing said in an International Bureau filing Friday seeking a waiver of the agency's Section 25.159(b) rule. Boeing wants to give its 2016 application to operate a non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) broadband satellite constellation to Wyler (see 1712070055). Boeing said Section 25.159(b) prohibits applying for NGSO-like system authorization if that party has an attributable interest in another entity with a pending application for an authorized-but-unbuilt NGSO-like system using the same frequency band. Boeing said Wyler's 100 percent indirect ownership of SOM1101 doesn't implicate the rule since he holds in the aggregate "significantly less" than 33 percent of the equity and debit interests in OneWeb, which is one of the definitions in Section 25.159(b) for attributable interest. Boeing said the agency's Section 1.2110(c)(2) rule -- which defines "controlling interests" as it governs eligibility for competitive bidding credits as a designated entity in spectrum auctions -- isn't implicated because Wyler doesn't have de jure or de facto control of OneWeb. Boeing said without a Section 25.159(b) waiver, development plans for the proposed NGSO system would be unnecessarily hampered, and no other NGSO-like systems would be hurt if a waiver were granted.

SES/O3b also wants to participate in any FCC proceeding on Boeing's plans to hand off its 2016 application to operate a non-geostationary orbit satellite constellation to OneWeb Executive Chairman Greg Wyler. In an International Bureau filing Friday, it asked to be enrolled as a party in the proceeding. SpaceX also asked to be enrolled (see 1712220003).

SkyTerra's former owners and management knew the satellite company's proposed ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) network would interfere with GPS devices even as it sought FCC approval and investor cash, said investors Harbinger Capital in a suit filed last week in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan seeking more than $1.9 billion in compensatory and punitive damages. The suit, in docket 657515-2017, claims SkyTerra testing had shown its L-band network would interfere substantially with adjacent band GPS receivers but hid the information from the plaintiffs and the FCC. Harbinger in its suit said the complaint is unrelated to Ligado -- and Ligado's own ATC network plans, which have "been modified substantially from SkyTerra’s original application," including through the use of power limits. Ligado didn't comment Wednesday. SkyTerra became part of LightSquared -- now Ligado -- in 2010. Former SkyTerra owner Apollo Global Management said Wednesday the suit "lacks merit, and we intend to defend ourselves vigorously.”