Pointing to Ligado and GPS company NovAtel's reaching a coexistence agreement (see 1606280067), Leica Geosystems -- which previously told the FCC it had concerns about Ligado's LTE plans possibly interfering with its global navigation satellite systems use -- said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 11-109 that it now supports the modification applications sought by Ligado.
None of the four major wireless carriers have a balance sheet strong enough to buy all or most of Dish Network's spectrum holdings, while other possible buyers -- including Charter Communications or Comcast -- seem unlikely, emailed MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett to investors Tuesday as the firm downgraded its Dish rating to "sell." The "prospects for Dish monetizing its spectrum, by sale, by lease or even by acquisition are much more limited than the spectrum-as-commodity framework would suggest," Moffett wrote. Neither Sprint nor T-Mobile needs mid-band spectrum as much as they need low-band spectrum, he said, saying Comcast could afford such a deal, but its strategy seems to be aimed more at using its Verizon mobile virtual network operator partnership and perhaps participation in the current incentive auction. Google, Apple or Amazon could afford a Dish deal, Moffett said, but if they had spectrum wants they likely would have registered for the incentive auction. He also was skeptical of Dish using the spectrum for building its own network, since even one that only satisfies FCC ownership requirements would necessitate billions in capital expenditures. Dish didn't comment Tuesday. Dish stock closed the day at $50.33, up 1.47 percent.
GPS company NovAtel, which had voiced concerns about interference from Ligado's planned LTE network (see 1605200064), now is backing the satellite spectrum company. In a joint filing Tuesday in docket 11-109, the two companies said they had reached a coexistence agreement that involves future coordination before any network deployment "and for equipment refinements as needed." NovAtel also said it supported Ligado's proposed license modifications.
With its Jupiter 2 satellite scheduled to launch in December, Hughes Network Systems is seeking permission to operate it at 97.1 degrees west. In an FCC International Bureau filing Friday, Hughes said the Ka-band satellite -- which will provide broadband services -- already is authorized by Papua New Guinea for launch and for operation at 97.1 degrees west and authorized for U.S. market access, but the company wants to relicense Jupiter 2 as a U.S.-flagged satellite.
Gogo wants FCC permission for up to 200 earth station aboard aircraft (ESAA) terminals communicating with Intelsat 20, which orbits at 68.5 degrees east. In an International Bureau filing Friday, Gogo said its requested special temporary authority will let it respond to Middle East customer demand. The company said it's also preparing an application to modify its ESAA license to add satellites as points of communication.
Intelsat's Galaxy 11 could be on the move again, The company asked the FCC International Bureau for special temporary authority (STA) to drift it from 60.1 degrees east to 45 degrees east, operate it temporarily there, and then drift it to 44.9 degrees east for its final location. According to Intelsat's IB filing Thursday, the satellite -- licensed to permanently operate at 55.6 degrees west -- is expected to arrive at 45 degrees east in mid October, and once there pick up some of the traffic now carried by Intelsat 12. The company said it expects to file a permanent modification application to operate the satellite at 44.9 degrees east. Intelsat in February asked for STA to operate Galaxy 11 at 60.1 degrees east (see 1602110003) -- a request granted in May.
Qualcomm said it’s supporting the European Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) across its product portfolios. The company began implementing hardware support for Galileo several years ago in select chipsets, and now offers what it called the industry's first “pervasive,” end-to-end location-services platform for smartphone, computing, infotainment, telematics and IoT applications. The Qualcomm IZat location services platform uses up to six satellite constellations concurrently without incremental device hardware or cost, and users benefit from more than 80 different satellites when calculating global position for navigation or location-based applications, Qualcomm said Tuesday. The addition of another GNSS is intended to provide more accurate location performance, faster time-to-first-fix, and improved robustness worldwide, “particularly in challenging urban environments where the combination of narrow streets and tall buildings can reduce accuracy,” the company said. The feature is integrated in the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, 600 and 400 processors and modems, and Galileo will be supported on smartphones and compute devices through software releases for Snapdragon 820, 652, 650, 625, 617 and 435 processors; automotive infotainment solutions incorporating Snapdragon 820A; telematics and IoT solutions with Snapdragon X16, X12, X7 and X5 LTE modems; and Qualcomm 9x15 and MDM6x00 modems, said the company.
Under a “speakeasy” theme, Pepcom’s Digital Experience news-media event last week in New York featured IoT technologies from a range of companies. Among those was EchoStar's Hughes, showing its first connected home product. The Sage by Hughes security and smart home system, launched at CES 2015, hit stores in early March. Sage is in a “slow rollout,” a company spokeswoman told us. It was designed to be do it yourself and is available from www.sagebyhughes.com, she said. The hub communicates with ZigBee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices to give the product a “long road map,” said the spokeswoman. It has a 911 feature that directly links customers upon alert to their home's emergency call center regardless of the homeowner's location. Other companies at Thursday's event were Savant and Uber.
A U.S. District Court in Orlando, pointing to the recommendation of a U.S. magistrate judge, Wednesday ordered (in Pacer) TV Net Solutions and co-founder/CEO Mohammad Mustafa to pay Dish Network $4.975 million. Dish sued TNS in 2012, alleging it was distributing foreign-language TV channels to which Dish had exclusive rights. In a report (in Pacer) and recommendation in April, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Smith said TNS continues to provide equipment and service allowing access to the infringing programming despite a 2014 settlement, and recommended the court partially grant Dish's motion for default final judgment. Smith also recommended against Dish's request to be awarded attorney's fees and costs, saying there was no indication the settlement agreement provides an award of fees, and against an injunction, saying the public interest would better be served by Dish's filing a motion to reopen the 2012 case so Dish can request commencement of a contempt proceeding. Mustafa told us Thursday that TNS originally tried to buy the Arabic TV content but was unable to successfully sign a deal with the programmer, and the Dish settlement and its subsequent dropping of programming led to the it shutting down in early 2015. However, TNS' Facebook page indicates it was still active as of earlier this month.
Given the pending launch of the first satellites in Iridium's Next constellation (see 1606140026), the need for and public benefit of more spectrum is growing, the satellite company told FCC International Bureau staff as it pushed its proposal for sharing the 1616-1618.725 MHz band with Globalstar (see 1504230054), said an ex parte filing Wednesday in RM-11685. Iridium said it told the bureau that Next's design is intended to protect radio astronomy services, so any dismissal of company's petition based on concern about its effect on RAS "would be premature."