Operators of incumbent fixed satellite service C-band earth station antennas that have been reported to the FCC as inactive must provide notice by Dec. 27 that they're still operational, or their authorizations will be terminated, and the antennas removed from the incumbent earth station list, said a notice for Monday's Federal Register.

The planned U.S. Bankruptcy Court confirmation hearing (docket 20-32299) on Intelsat's plan for emerging from Chapter 11, scheduled for Thursday (see 2111240048), was rescheduled for Friday, the court told us.

Planned satellite mega constellations could face headwinds from regulators around the globe that have increased concerns about such systems, satellite experts said Wednesday during a Global VSAT Forum webinar. OneWeb Government, Regulatory and Engagement Chief Chris McLaughlin said the biggest proposed mega constellations could see regulatory challenges based on their sheer size. "It beggars belief anyone will allow 30,000 satellites," he said. Another limiting factor for mega constellations will be lack of enough rockets to launch all the satellites, he said. Kymeta Product Management Director David Fotheringham said many of the nascent operators pitching big constellations will never come to fruition, but there will still be a huge increase in the number of satellites in orbit. McLaughlin said regulators globally are trying to make more spectrum used by satellite operators available for 5G, making it increasingly important that satellite plays a role in 5G. He said trying to protect the 28 GHz band for satellite use in countries looking to open it to terrestrial mobile has been complicated by the U.K. letting it go for terrestrial use years ago. Fotheringham said satellite operators should make a concerted effort to keep their current spectrum rights. He said satellite communications in the U.S. have already become secondary to 5G in the Ka band. Expect more satellite industry consolidation, speakers said. McLaughlin said increasing interest rates could affect the expansion plans of satellite companies. He said the investment community could increase M&A activity in the satcom universe. He questioned whether the Viasat/Inmarsat deal (see 2111080038) will happen because it could face opposition from the U.K. government loath to lose a satellite operator. A Viasat spokesperson emailed that it, Inmarsat and the U.K. government "have been in discussions as part of the usual process [and] conversations have been constructive and completely cooperative."

Vice President Kamala Harris needs to make orbital debris issues a priority in her role as head of the National Space Council, Senate Commerce Committee and Space and Science Subcommittee leadership said they urged in a letter this week. They said they also wrote Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo criticizing progress in space situational awareness and space traffic management efforts. Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss.; Subcommittee Chair John Hickenlooper, D-Colo.; and ranking member Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., signed the letters.

SES' Phase I certification of accelerated C-band relocation was validated, said an FCC Wireless Bureau order Wednesday. The bureau said the new C-band licensees will now pay their portion of the Phase I accelerated relocation payment to the relocation payment clearinghouse, with funds to be dispersed to the satellite operator. Intelsat and Eutelsat also have received Phase I certification and validation (see 2111120060 and 2110270041).

Intelsat and SES are clashing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court over Intelsat's proposed plan for emergence from Chapter 11 and how the C-band clearing accelerated relocation payments should be allocated. Intelsat told the FCC International Bureau last week that court confirmation of the reorganization plan should follow a Dec. 2 hearing, per a docket 21-375 ex parte post. In favor of its motion to intervene, SES said Intelsat U.S., in line for only 4.5% of the relocation payments going to Intelsat, is clearly not protecting company interests and is trying to channel those payments from the U.S operations to other Intelsat entities. Those relocation payments "represent the most valuable asset in Debtors’ entire enterprise," SES said in U.S. Bankruptcy Court docket 20-32299 (in Pacer). Intelsat said (in Pacer) the plan reduces its debt by more than $7 billion and provides "the liquidity to implement a value-maximizing business plan." It said the argument that entities other than the ones that own Intelsat's FCC licenses are entitled to accelerated relocation payments is "flimsy." It said the FCC removed any ambiguity earlier this month when it ordered that the license holder had validated Phase I of the relocation and was to receive relocation payments.

Many IoT services require continuous connectivity, which can't be handled with terrestrial-only technologies, and the FCC needs to expand satellite access to bands allocated to fixed and mobile satellite services and preserve the flexibility of satellites to use their spectrum allocations for direct and indirect IoT services rather than establish specific frequency allocations for IoT, SES/O3b told the FCC in docket 21-353 Tuesday.

With Embratel's Star One C1 satellite about to be deorbited as it's at the end of its life, the satellite operator is asking the FCC International Bureau to add its Brazil-flagged Star One C4 satellite to its permitted station list. In a petition filed Monday Embratel said C4 will operate at 70 degrees west as a Ku-band replacement satellite for Star One C2, which will relocate from 70 to 65 degrees west and replace C1. It said C4 offers fixed satellite services in the Ku band now throughout North, Central and South America, and grant of the petition will let the company offer satellite communications services in the band on routes to, from and within the U.S.

A pending petition to reconsider a license modification given SpaceX and an application to modify Kuiper's satellite system raise issues that will likely be resolved using common facts and law, Hughes told the FCC International Bureau in a motion Monday to consolidate the two. It said SpaceX and Amazon's Kuiper have multiple ITU filings for their respective non-geostationary orbit satellite systems, and both are subject to ITU equivalent power flux density (EPFD) limits. Hughes said the two proceedings raise questions of compliance with applicable EPFD limits and potential misuse of multiple ITU filings to get around EPFD compliance. It said consolidated proceeding would facilitate faster review of outstanding common issues and give consistent application of commission rules and precedent. SpaceX and Kuiper didn't comment Tuesday.

AST is expanding its U.S. manufacturing facilities to produce the SpaceMobile satellite constellation, and the FCC should allow terrestrial spectrum holders to provide 5G service using that constellation under the agency's flexible use doctrine, CEO Abel Avellan urged FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington. That's per an International Bureau filing Wednesday.