Earth station testing in California demonstrates that "careful design, placement and installation of 28 GHz earth stations" would let them coexist without problems alongside 5G and upper microwave flexible use system deployments, ViaSat said in a docket 14-177 FCC filing posted Thursday. The testing showed the earth station's power flux density levels, without any mitigation efforts, were below the FCC's required threshold except in one case, ViaSat said, saying additional shielding would be easy to install to rectify that.

Even if U.S. District judge's summary judgment order on behalf of Dish Network wasn't certified as final, it still is appealable because it includes an injunction, Digital Satellite Connections said in a memorandum filed Wednesday in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. DSC said the statute of limitations ran out on Dish counterclaims that were dismissed without prejudice, thus making the final judgment final. The memorandum was in response to the appeals court asking for one after questioning its own appellate jurisdiction on the case. Dish didn't comment Thursday. The March 24 summary judgment order by Judge Robert Blackburn of Denver was in response to Dish and DSC motions for summary judgment in a 2013 lawsuit brought by satellite reseller DSC and owner Kathy King, in which they claimed Dish was infringing on their Dishnet trademark with its Dishnet Satellite Broadband. Blackburn said under the terms of the 2010 agreement between DSC and Dish, Dish is entitled to ownership and use of the Dishnet trademark. DSC didn't renew its agreement with Dish in 2012, according to court paperwork.

Ligado keeps underestimating the availability requirement of weather satellite data, and satellite delivery was designed for higher availability "than even the best Internet connectivity and cloud services provide today," a group of weather interests said in an FCC RM-11681 letter posted Thursday. They said various Internet connectivity options for non-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration users of NOAA data don't "provide a suitable alternative" to weather satellite data. They said NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R-series of satellites was designed with a ground segment rebroadcast service on 1686.6 MHz to have a 99.988 percent availability over a 30-day period -- essentially meaning no more than five minutes of downtime a month. For an alternative content delivery network (CDN), "this is a particularly high bar," the weather interests said, saying non-NOAA users of the data can't all afford one-time costs of an antenna and associated site and installation. Typical service level agreements from major providers of data services or cloud services fall short of that 99.988 percent goal, meaning cloud services could have outages the equivalent of 20 to 40 minutes a month, they said. Without "a clear and reliable alternative to important data transmissions," the FCC shouldn't proceed with rulemaking regarding commercial sharing of the 1675-1680 MHz band, they said. The letter was signed by American Meteorological Society Executive Director Keith Seitter, American Geophysical Union Executive Director Christine McEntee and University of Wisconsin-Madison's Space Science and Engineering Center Interim Director Steven Ackerman. Ligado in a statement said, "Questions raised by these groups are the very questions that should be discussed and resolved during" an NPRM "process regarding the potential auction of the 1675-1680 spectrum band, which a broad group of industry stakeholders have asked the FCC to pursue. An NPRM would seek further public comment and allow everyone ample opportunity to express remaining concerns and present solutions. Ligado has developed a cloud-based content delivery network for NOAA’s weather data that is as reliable and fast as the current satellite delivery method. George Mason University is currently using this network, and they find that it not only delivers critical NOAA weather data with high reliability and low latency, but it makes sure the data will be available to everyone in real time -- not just a select few with the resources to purchase and operate very expensive satellite receiver equipment.”

Federal court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to weigh a U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency contract with Space Systems Loral (SSL) for development of the capability to service and maintain geosynchronous orbit satellites, DARPA said in a motion (in Pacer) to dismiss filed Tuesday. In its filing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, DARPA said the lawsuit -- brought by Orbital ATK and its Space Logistics subsidiary, claiming the DARPA contract unfairly competes with commercial space activity (see 1702090045) -- flies in the face of what the Supreme Court's 2000 Sierra Club v. Peterson ruling said about challenging agency actions and that the SSL contract is well within agency discretion. DARPA said the suit should be dismissed for failing to state a claim, since it involves the Obama administration's national space policy directive, which doesn't create a legal framework a court can enforce. Orbital ATK didn't comment Wednesday.

Spectrum Five is yet again hoping to offer direct broadcast service in the U.S. In an FCC International Bureau filing Wednesday, the company asked for a declaratory ruling letting it enter the U.S. market with a Netherlands-authorized satellite operating at 95.15 degrees west. It asked the same in September, days after surrendering its license authorizing launch and operation of a satellite service (see 1609070052), and the bureau in March authorized the petition, but the firm said it then didn't post the required bond. "If this petition is granted, it is able and willing to post the bond," Spectrum Five said now.

Connect America Fund Phase II bid weighting rules adopted in February (see 1702230019) "will effectively preclude" satellite operators from taking part in the reverse auction, which will hurt American consumers, Hughes Network Systems told the FCC. In an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 10-90, the company recapped a meeting between Senior Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Jennifer Manner and an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn at which the company said satellite is too heavily handicapped by the weights given to latency and baseline 25/3 Mbps service.

Satellite operators with non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) constellation applications before the FCC are starting to provide additional technical details to the International Bureau. The bureau in a series of letters in March to some operators requested supplemental constellation information on such issues as mitigation of orbital debris. ViaSat in a letter Tuesday provided more details about its post-mission disposal plans, giving more technical details about its plans to put its satellites into storage orbit at 8,500 kilometers. Boeing's letter elaborated on its plans for keeping apogee, perigee, inclination and argument of perigee values during the satellites' lifetimes, and more details on its intent to comply with application equivalent power flux density limits. The bureau, meanwhile, gave the company a May 10 deadline for providing a variety of supplemental information about its V-band constellation, including its design and operational strategies for mitigating orbital debris and an analysis of collision risk, in a letter Tuesday to Boeing. Karousel's letter Tuesday cited waivers it foresees needing in the 29.1-29.25 GHz and 29.25-29.5 GHz bands for its NGSO constellation since there's no NGSO designation in the bands, and how it will prevent interference with Iridium operations in the 29.1-29.3 GHz bands. The bureau this week also extended LeoSat's deadline to May 15 for it to give more information about the status of the French licensing authority's review of the orbital debris mitigation plans of LeoSat's constellation and an analysis of collision risk during the passive disposal phase. Boeing separately emailed us that its NGSO plans are "in full accordance with FCC requirements and precedent" -- in response to allegations by ViaSat that pending V- and Ka-band constellation applications from Boeing, SpaceX and O3b don't meet FCC requirements (see 1704110028).

Satellite operator revenue dropped by close to 3 percent in 2016 largely on data market pricing, while some operators dug into their cash on hand for acquisitions or paying down debt, Northern Sky Research said in a news release Tuesday. "Operators are making big, potentially risky plays," including SES taking full ownership of O3b and RR Media, OneWeb combining with Intelsat, Telesat's move toward low earth orbit high-throughput satellites and the proposed geostationary high-throughput satellite constellation spearheaded by APT Satellite, it said. The researcher said 2016 saw satellite operators try to compete better in international data and mobility markets through big discounts on bulk contracts.

Globalstar is asking for a series of minor license modifications needed to implement its planned terrestrial wireless broadband network. In an FCC International Bureau license modification application filed Tuesday, Globalstar said the modifications are for its satellite constellation license, its earth station gateways in the continental U.S. and Alaska, its blanket license for operating mobile earth station terminals and its licenses for its earth station gateway in Puerto Rico.

To bolster the case for additional satellite spectrum, EchoStar and its Hughes Network Systems submitted a white paper posted Monday in FCC docket 14-177 laying out the history of Hughes' broadband satellite services. The point is to give more context as the FCC looks at spectrum rules above 24 GHz to help ensure "a technology neutral regulatory regime," it said. EchoStar/Hughes said it has seen in the past decade rapid growth in satellite capacity, from its 1 Gbps being its highest capacity satellite in 2006-2007 to today's offerings of 220 Gbps, and huge growth in the maximum number of spot beams per satellite. They said improvements in coding and spectral efficiency are "reaching a point of diminishing returns." The companies said the Ka-band is largely maxed out, requiring migration to the Q and V bands.