NPR's public radio satellite system (PRSS) downlinks are low-powered, meaning "virtual certainty" that any terrestrial use of the 3.7-4.2 GHz band would create interference that disrupts public radio broadcasts, executives told aides to FCC Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel, recounted a docket 17-183 ex parte filing posted Wednesday. The public radio programmer said that for FY 2018, Congress approved the first of a multiyear financial contribution that will total more than $50 million to update PRSS over the next decade.
Shared mobile/satellite use of the C band under the model being pitched by Intelsat and Intel (see 1710040013) wouldn't compromise certainty, reliability or quality of broadcasting of media content to cable headends, Intelsat Senior Vice President-Sales and Marketing Kurt Riegelman blogged. He said its proposal would have satellite remain co-primary in the 3700-4200 MHz band. Riegelman said avoiding co-frequency use in certain areas but giving satellite the ability to use all 500 MHz elsewhere would preserve quality of programming distribution throughout the band. In a separate blog Tuesday, Intelsat Vice President-Spectrum Strategy Hazem Moakkit said the Intelsat/Intel plan doesn't undermine satellite rights to the C band since trying to apply that approach in other nations "is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole." He said C-band use globally generally is fragmented across numerous operators, unlike in the U.S., so the Intelsat/Intel approach is inherently impractical in other regions. Moakkit called "risk of contagion ... quite low" given the rest of the world uses the 3.4-3.6 GHz band for mobile while 3.4-3.7 GHz in the U.S. is for federal use and citizens broadband radio service. Since the C-band is a capacity band, its 5G use would only be in densely populated areas, he said. He said much of Africa, Asia and South America uses the C-band for a wide variety of services, so joint use isn't viable there.
Sling TV is available on select Samsung smart TVs, making it the first live and on-demand over-the-top service brought on to the Samsung platform, said Sling Tuesday.
Skynet Satellite wants to eke out five extra years of use for Telstar 12, it said in an FCC International Bureau application Monday asking for an extension of the satellite's license term through Nov. 30, 2022. It said the licensed term expires at month's end and extension would let it continue to provide service pending launch of a replacement satellite that has been authorized by Canada.
Planet Labs wants to use some of its Flock earth imaging constellation satellites to demonstrate automatic identification system (AIS) receiver capabilities, it said in an FCC International Bureau application Monday. It wants to equip up to three of its earth exploration satellite service satellites with a software-defined radio receiver and antenna wire tuned to receive AIS signals, with AIS data to be transmitted to Planet Earth stations.
ViaSat subsidiary ViaSat Antenna Systems and European industry will jointly work to develop components for the ViaSat-3 satellite broadband system under a public private partnership agreement between the company and the European Space Agency, ViaSat said Monday. It said the $78.8 million partnership, Project Aidan, is being co-funded by Switzerland, the Netherlands and Romania and will focus on producing fixed and mobile user terminals, including development of a fully electronic phased array, and ground segment equipment and gateways.
Two non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) constellations seeking U.S. market access now have it, with a pair of orders issued Friday. Space Norway's approval is conditioned on the company internationally coordinating with other operators and on the ITU giving it a favorable or "qualified favorable" rating on its equivalent power flux density limit demonstration before initiating service, the FCC said in an order. The regulator also approved a Space Norway-requested waiver of geographic coverage requirements, saying its Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission system is intended to cover only the pan-Arctic region and that would help provide connectivity to unserved and underserved areas of Alaska. In its Telesat order, the agency denied a OneWeb request that Telesat approval be conditioned on maintaining a 125 km buffer zone with other NGSO systems, saying collision concerns are best addressed "through inter-operator coordination."
Iridium is dropping its 2013 petition seeking reallocation of the 1616-1618.725 band from CDMA and CDMA/TDMA shared use to TDMA mobile satellite service (see 1302130047). In an RM-11697 filing posted Wednesday, Iridium cited the inactivity in the FCC docket -- there were no filings this year and the last one not by Iridium was in 2015 -- and unspecified "changes in the regulatory environment." Iridium said it sought the spectrum in response to Globalstar's plans to use its lower big low earth orbit spectrum for terrestrial operations. Globalstar opposed Iridium's petition (see 1407210045).
Iridium wants an OK to extend the lifespan of its first-generation satellite constellation so it has enough time for its Next constellation to become fully operational. In an FCC International Bureau filing Monday, the company asked that the license term be extended by 18 months, until July 31, 2019. It said delays in the initial Next launch -- which happened in January (see 1701060064) -- required altering the schedule for the constellation's full deployment. The company asked for approval to continue to use a storage orbit for first-generation satellites to act as spares and to maneuver satellites in the spare and operational orbits as needed to continue providing service.
The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia will put $1 billion into Virgin's space companies Virgin Galactic, Spaceship Co. and Virgin Orbit, with an option for an additional $480 million, under a nonbinding memorandum of understanding, Virgin announced Thursday. Virgin founder Richard Branson said its Virgin Galactic commercial spaceflight business and Virgin Orbit launch business are close to operational, and the investment will help it develop future smallsat satellite launch capabilities and accelerate its plans for point-to-point supersonic space travel.