The World Broadcasting Unions’ International Satellite Operations Group agreed to change its name and mandate, said the WBU in a news release emailed Tuesday. It becomes the International Media Connectivity Group, "more reflective of the many transmission methods broadcasters and content providers are using," said WBU. In "a connected world," broadcasting "is on every platform, both for collection and distribution," said Michael McEwen, WBU secretariat head.

ViaSat joined the DeSIRE II Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems Project Consortium, funded by the European Space Agency Integrated Applications Promotion program, European Defence Agency and industry to define regulations and civilian usage for satellite-controlled remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) also known as drones, said the company in a Tuesday news release. The company said it's taking the lead in developing the communication, navigation and sensing technologies for real-time RPAS command and control across Ka- and L-band satellites. ViaSat will help identify civilian service applications for RPAS usage such as environmental monitoring, maritime surveillance and emergency responses, it said. By the end of 2016, ViaSat said the DeSIRE II project is expected to complete a series of flight tests with the Piaggio Aerospace P.1HH Demo Hammerhead platform.

LightSquared wants the FCC to let the L band be used for terrestrial broadband, calling it "vital" spectrum, an ex parte filing said ex-commission Chairman Reed Hundt and ex-Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg told agency Chairman Tom Wheeler and aides. Hundt, representing the satellite company, and Seidenberg, expected to chair the board of the firm exiting bankruptcy, also asked that spectrum at 1675-1680 MHz be made available for terrestrial purposes, said a filing posted Tuesday to docket 12-340. Speaking May 8 with Philip Verveer, Wheeler's senior counselor, and Wheeler wireless aide Renee Gregory, Hundt had made a similar request (see 1505140012), said a previous filing in the docket. Gregory and Verveer attended the more recent meeting as well.

Intelsat executives lobbied for parity in FCC satellite regulatory fees, said the company in a filing about a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. "Burdensome regulatory fees place U.S. satellite operators at a competitive disadvantage compared to foreign-licensed competitors that do not have to pay these costly fees, despite the fact that foreign-licensed satellite operators utilize Commission resources." An NPRM proposed to assess such fees on non-U.S. licensed satellite operators with access to the country's market, said the company in the filing posted Friday to docket 12-201. "Commence the necessary further review of this issue so that the Commission has the information needed to adopt this important reform as soon as possible."

Globalstar opposed Iridium's revised proposal for what the FCC should do on spectrum for the companies. Iridium said last month it wants expanded spectrum sharing and operator-to-operator coordination with Globalstar (see 1504230054). The agency should reject Iridium's revised request to use the spectrum of its chief competitor, said Globalstar in a filing posted Friday to RM-11697. "Iridium has no legitimate need for this spectrum, and its use of these frequencies would cause harm to Globalstar and its customers." The revision "would still encroach upon Globalstar’s exclusively licensed mobile satellite service" spectrum, gaining access to its frequencies at 1616-1617.775 MHz on a shared basis, said Globalstar. A lawyer for Iridium had no comment.

The FCC International Bureau Satellite Division granted DirecTV an extension through July 31 to meet its “launch and begin operations” milestone for its RB-2 satellite, said an order in Friday's Daily Digest. It said DirecTV met the first three milestones applicable to RB-2: (1) enter into a binding contract; (2) complete critical design review; and (3) commence construction. "We therefore reduce the remaining bond from $3 million to $750,000," the bureau said.

SES Americom said Intelsat is wrong to want the FCC to eliminate the two-degree separation requirement. The commission should keep the spacing and "increase the baseline power levels to correspond with the typical operational levels of today’s spacecraft," SES representatives told International Bureau officials Monday, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 12-267. "Two-degree spacing facilitates new entry by providing a predictable baseline at which parties can operate prior to completing coordination with their neighbors," and without it, new entry could be "blocked indefinitely by incumbents based on conservative ITU coordination criteria," said SES. "It is not surprising that Intelsat is the sole party arguing for elimination of two-degree spacing; since Intelsat’s ITU filings are among the oldest in the world, relying on ITU priority instead of two-degree spacing would benefit Intelsat at the expense of new entry." SES wants the same spacing as for conventional C- and Ku-band spectrum for fixed satellite services in the extended, unplanned segments of those bands. Ending that separation would "remedy the competitive harm unfairly imposed on U.S. licensees and align U.S. licensing" with the ITU, Intelsat told bureau officials in March (see 1503270037). “Intelsat believes that the FCC’s two-degrees rules put U.S. licensees at a competitive disadvantage to non-U.S. licensees and make it harder for U.S. customers to enjoy the benefits of new satellite service offerings that utilize smaller antennas," the company responded Thursday. "We commend the FCC for examining the issue of whether -- in today’s satellite marketplace -- these rules continue to serve the public interest.”

Ex-FCC Chairman Reed Hundt on behalf of LightSquared asked the FCC "to move towards finding" that the company's spectrum can be used for terrestrial services and that spectrum at 1675-1680 MHz should be made available for those purposes. Speaking last week with Philip Verveer, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's senior counselor, and Wheeler wireless legal aide Renee Gregory, Hundt "reviewed the status of various proceedings and the actions of sister agencies," said a LightSquared filing posted Wednesday to docket 12-340. The company recently noted to the commission that it's waiting to develop service because of the agency's 2012 public notice recommending a waiver to the firm be vacated and LightSquared's ancillary terrestrial component authority be put on hold (see 1505050023). The company has sought the reallocation of the 1675-1680 MHz band by auctioning National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spectrum (see 1501270049).

Hughes Network Systems lobbied the FCC to back its proposal for Connect America Fund Phase II recipients of USF money for broadband to meet a test that doesn't favor any platforms while ensuring the services have low latency. It would measure if the services “'offer sufficiently low latency to enable use of real-time applications, such as VoIP' while remaining consistent with the Commission’s commitment to technological neutrality," the satellite broadband provider said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 10-90, referring to its March 27 proposal in that docket. During a lobbying meeting last week with Wireline Bureau front-office and other staff, a lawyer at Hughes parent EchoStar, which shares with Dish Network Charlie Ergen as chairman and a top shareholder, also asked the agency to "without delay" adopt Remote Areas Fund rules, the newer filing said. After telcos decide whether and how much CAF Phase II funds to get out of a total of up to $10 billion over six years, the FCC can award USF money to other companies (see 1504290066).

Correction: The number of volt-ampere-hours Hughes Network Systems recommends there be in modem backup batteries is 3000 (see 1505070054).