Satcom Direct is buying the satellite communications subsidiary of Airbus Group, and the two are seeking FCC approval of the deal. In an International Bureau filing submitted Friday, Satcom Direct and Airbus DS said they agreed last week that Satcom Direct would buy Airbus DS SatCom Government subsidiary -- which specializes in fixed and mobile satellite communication services to military and government customers -- and asked for agency approval for transfer of the numerous licenses and Section 214 authorizations to Satcom Direct. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Planet Labs is seeking FCC approval to launch as many as 600 satellites over the next decade for its nongeostationary Earth imagery satellite system. The satellites -- 200 of which would be operating at any given time, given the low altitudes at which they would operate and thus the short lifetime of each satellite -- would include the 11 Flock 1c satellites for which the company already has authorization and which launched in June 2014, plus another 56 the FCC authorized last year to be deployed from the International Space Station, Planet Labs said in an International Bureau filing submitted Sunday. The launches could begin in January, Planet Labs said, with the constellation orbiting at 350 kilometers to 720 km, with most at 475 km, it said. Each of the satellites is expected to have an operational lifespan of roughly two years, providing daily imaging of the entire planet, Planet Labs said. The company said signal interference with other systems is unlikely, even as Planet Labs' constellation grows, because earth exploration satellite service systems operating in the 8,025-8,400 MHz band -- like Planet Labs' -- "normally transmit only in short periods of time" and satellites from different systems do not typically travel through the narrow antenna beams of receiving Earth stations and transmit simultaneously.

Globalstar has yet to respond to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi channel 11 interference evidence about its proposed terrestrial low-power Wi-Fi service (TLPS), Gerst Capital said in an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 13-213. According to the filing, Greg Gerst, principal at the hedge fund and a frequent TLPS plan critic (see 1503190025), met with International Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff to lay out what Gerst considers unresolved technical issues and urge the agency to terminate the proceeding. Globalstar's claim that only very specialized equipment could detect any negative effect from TLPS interference on hearing aids using Bluetooth Low Energy is faulty, since neither Globalstar nor consultant Roberson & Associates has experience in testing techniques for evaluating interference's effect on speech intelligibility, Gerst said. Tests also show increased interference on channel 11 from TLPS, and more tests are needed so the FCC can "understand how much and in what manner TLPS will interfere with Wi-Fi," as previous Globalstar tests using noncommercial, network-layer-only test tools gave insufficient data, Gerst said. Various reports have shown a significant percentage of access points and consumer device software would need modifying to allow TLPS, and that TLPS impairment could vary notably from device to device because of manufacturing variations, as well as hour-to-hour on a single device due to "temperature motion" of the filter, Gerst said. Meanwhile, Globalstar's own March demonstration -- aimed at showing how TLPS would not materially interfere with Bluetooth or channel 11 -- involved access points operating below maximum transmit power level, which doesn't reflect what often happens in the real world, Gerst said. Globalstar has dismissed Gerst criticisms in the past as coming from a short seller trying to sow doubt.

Intelsat's objections are "a fishing expedition" for proprietary information that "needlessly delay" SpaceX's experimental satellite application, SpaceX said in an Office of Engineering and Technology filing submitted Friday. The submission was in response to an Intelsat request for more information (see 1507270060) as SpaceX looks to launch test satellites in advance of a low earth orbit constellation providing a global broadband service. Much of the information Intelsat said it needs to be assured SpaceX's test satellites don't pose an interference or collision risk (see 1507290015) is "beyond the scope of [FCC] requirements" and an attempt to get proprietary developmental design data, SpaceX said. Other data sought by Intelsat already is publicly available in documents SpaceX has filed with the FCC, it said. Meanwhile, the Engineers for the Integrity of Broadcast Auxiliary Services Spectrum, voicing concerns about possible SpaceX test interference with TV broadcast auxiliary service news gathering operations also operating in 2,077.5-2,105.5 MHz, said in a letter Wednesday it informally objects to the SpaceX application and asked the agency to require the company to coordinate with the Society of Broadcast Engineers on its plans. Also filing an objection Wednesday was the Global Union Against Radiation Deployment from Space, which advocates against space-based Wi-Fi. "The cumulative and additive atmospheric, environmental and health risks of [microwave radiation] saturation from space are extremely high," the group said.

In a regulatory and legal battle with GPS companies, LightSquared now is highlighting the decline of the GPS and Personal Navigation Device (PND) industry. Company senior adviser Reed Hundt met with FCC front-office Office of Strategic Planning & Policy Analysis, Wireless, General Counsel, Office of Engineering & Technology and International Bureau staff to discuss GPS market data, the company said in an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 12-340. "Consumers today are overwhelmingly using smartphones for general location and navigation use cases," meaning PND sales are dropping and the installed base is expected by 2020 to be half of what it is today, the company said. Meanwhile, GPS units used in high-precision agriculture and construction make up a small portion of the overall installed base, and companies increasingly are turning to other options such as internal measure units and real-time kinetics, LightSquared said. Garmin dominates the PND market, while John Deere and Trimble are the major players in the use of GPS for high-precision agriculture and construction, and LightSquared's plans for a ground-and-satellite-based LTE broadband network have been opposed by the three over concerns of interference with the Global Navigation Satellite Service bandwidth used by the GPS companies (see 1507010018). Regardless of whether LightSquared is able to reach a settlement with the GPS companies, "the nation cannot afford to risk interference that could debilitate the reception and/or accuracy of GPS signals used for public safety operations," National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Chairman Ralph Haller said in a letter to the FCC posted Wednesday.

ViaSat is seeking FCC approval for its new FT22225 mobile earth terminals. In a filing Wednesday with the International Bureau, the company said it plans up to 100,000 terminals to communicate in the L-band with LightSquared's SkyTerra-1 satellite and to provide real-time position tracking and remote-asset management and operation for such applications as oil and gas stream monitoring and control, water treatment and distribution monitoring and control, and ATM kiosk operation.

Iridium Communications' planned Next constellation hit a delay, the company said Thursday, as a subsystem supplier is reworking hardware related to Ka-band satellite links. That puts off the initial launch of the Next constellation by two months, to December, Iridium said. Iridium Next -- which promises more capacity than the company's current satellite network -- is expected to be fully deployed in 2017, the company said.

Eutelsat is partnering with Starburst Accelerator -- an aerospace-centric startup incubator in Paris -- the satellite company said Wednesday. Eutelsat said it would help in developing services, applications and technologies, and also be part of the accelerator selection committee.

LightSquared is eyeing a Dec. 15 exit from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy. That's the date set in a court order approved Tuesday by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman in Manhattan for payment to Moelis & Co., the financial adviser and investment banker to the satellite company in its 3-year-old Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The order signs off on paying Moelis $32.5 million in capital transaction fees and restructuring fees on the effective date of LightSquared's plan for emergence from bankruptcy, as long as the plan is consummated by Dec. 15. If the plan isn't consummated by then, Moelis doesn't receive the $32.5 million -- its reduced transaction fee -- but it then has the right to seek full repayment of the $63.8 million for which Moelis may be eligible.

Don't expect to see Sirius XM enter the streaming audio marketplace anytime soon, Sirius executives said Tuesday. While Sirius has looked into Internet-based music streaming services, "None of them are making money," Chief Financial Officer David Frear said Tuesday during a conference call with analysts on its financial results. While Sirius has better relationships with record labels after its $210 million settlement last month on unpaid royalties (see 1506260048), the company isn't interested in trying to leverage that into global streaming licenses, CEO Jim Meyer said. "Just going global is not worth doing if you cannot make money on it," Frear said.