If the FCC allows expanded federal use of nonfederal bands, federal users should be subject to the same technical, operational and procedural requirements as nonfederal users, the Satellite Industry Association said in docket 13-115 Monday. It cautioned that letting federal users into frequency bands shared among satellite services and upper microwave flexible use service could disrupt nonfederal operators. The commission adopted a Further NPRM in April asking about expanding federal use of some nonfederal fixed satellite and mobile satellite service bands (see 2104220036).

Non-geostationary orbit satellite constellation operators have an "intense demand" for Ku-band spectrum, and the FCC must protect those services from "encroachment by speculative terrestrial interests in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band," OneWeb officials urged acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr, per a docket 20-443 filing Friday.

Intelsat and Spectrum Five clashed over a request for extra time to comment on Intelsat's planned emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Washington Analysis' Tom Seitz said in a note Friday the FCC is likely to grant Intelsat the license transfers needed as part of its reorganization, but Spectrum Five raised issues that could be troublesome for Intelsat before the ITU. Spectrum Five's motion for a 30-day extension is an attempt at delaying the bankruptcy exit via "specious claims" from a different petition, Intelsat said in docket 21-375. It said the testing Spectrum Five claims it wants could have been done before the deadline. Spectrum Five said Intelsat's Intelsat 30 and 31 satellites operate at 95 degrees west at higher power flux density levels than the ITU permits, and the extension would allow time for further testing to see if the companies' stations can coexist at that orbital slot. Spectrum Five has a pending FCC petition to revoke the satellites' licenses (see 2012010057).

Thursday's launch of 36 OneWeb satellites brings its in-orbit constellation count to 358, more than halfway to the 648 full broadband constellation, OneWeb said, saying it had signal acquisition from all 36. OneWeb said with the launch it's now starting service demos at its London headquarters and U.S. locations including Germantown, Maryland.

Data surpassed video as a revenue stream for commercial satellite operators in 2020, and data revenue should grow sizably over the rest of this decade while video shrinks, said Northern Sky Research analyst Lluc Palerm on an NSR webinar Thursday. He said COVID-19 affected some satcom service areas such as aviation connectivity, but consumer broadband and fixed data continue growing. Business areas affected by the pandemic should recover by 2023, said Palerm. He said tens of Tbps of capacity is coming from low earth orbit constellations, but a lot will be over areas with no addressable markets, like oceans, meaning a 5% to 10% utilization rate for non-geostationary orbit high throughput satellite data by 2030. Asked about the possibility of a communications satellite bubble that could burst, Palerm said 2021 is very different from the downturn 20 years ago. He said the telecom industry is more open to adopting satellites into telco networks. Whether low earth orbit constellations will be financially successful remains to be seen, “but for sure they are going to launch," he said.

Dish Network and designated entities SNR Wireless and Northstar Wireless assailed FCC criticisms of their challenge to the agency's denial of $3.3 billion in designated entity bidding credits in the AWS-3 auction, in U.S. Court for the D.C. Circuit reply briefs this week. The commission consistently has given designated entity applicants the chance to file de facto control issues with guidance from FCC staff, and twice Northstar and SNR were denied that guidance, the appellant DEs said (docket 18-1209). The agency then found disqualifying de facto control issues that could have been addressed with that guidance, the DEs said, arguing they were treated differently from other DE applicants. Intervenor Dish said denying the bidding credits would hinder its entry into the wireless market. It said the court should direct the FCC to reinstate the Northstar and SNR applications. The FCC didn't comment Thursday.

SpaceX said Dish Network's allies in opening the 12 GHz band to 5G are the result of a Dish Astroturf campaign. In an FCC docket 20-443 filing Thursday, SpaceX said most if not all have direct financial ties to Dish or other multichannel video distribution and data service licensees. It never named the 5Gfor12GHz Coalition but used the word "coalition" more than once. Rather than opening the band to 5G, the FCC should promote rapid broadband deployment by "remov[ing] the MVDDS encumbrances that hamper next-generation satellite operators in the 12 GHz Band, and close the proceeding." Dish emailed that the filing is an "irrelevant screed." The company said it and other coalition members "submitted detailed scientific and engineering studies showing that coexistence in 12GHz is eminently possible and the significant public benefits of unleashing the band for 5G. DISH will let the science and engineering speak for itself."

Many commercial space operators are designing their systems with cybersecurity protection in mind, but "there are still gaps we have to address," said Commerce Department Deputy Secretary Don Graves Wednesday during a Commerce/Department of Homeland Security cybersecurity symposium. Cyberattacks are one of the easiest ways to disrupt or manipulate satellites, and operators need to evaluate their systems using the National Institute of Standards and Technology cybersecurity framework, he said. Bob Kolasky, head of DHS' National Risk Management Center, said federal government action on President Joe Biden's cybersecurity executive order issued earlier this year (see 2105130065) could have a cascading effect on private sector supply chains.

The FCC draft order OK'ing a Boeing non-geostationary orbit constellation put on circulation last week involves the V-band fixed satellite service constellation it filed an application for in 2017 (see 1703020036), we were told Wednesday.

Since the thousands of satellites SpaceX plans to deploy could have a notable environmental impact, it was incumbent on the FCC to order an environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act, appellants Viasat and Balance Group told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Tuesday in a reply brief (docket 21-1123). They and Dish Network are challenging the license modification granted SpaceX earlier this year (see 2106020036). Dish, in its appellant reply brief, said its appeal "boils down to whether the Commission was permitted to ignore the evidence, as it admits it did, in the name of a rule that did not preclude a look at the evidence." It said the D.C. Circuit has made clear an agency must consider evidence that its application of a rule in a given situation is unreasonable. The FCC didn't comment Wednesday.