Intelsat's seven C-band replacement satellite programs "continue to progress on schedule," as do all other transition deliverables, per its C-band transition status report in docket 18-122 Wednesday. It said it has moved all customer services in the contiguous U.S. out of the lower 120 MHz on its fleet, and started Phase 2 transition activities. It said it has delivered all required encoding upgrades and all the integrated receivers/decoders needed to meet the Phase I milestone have been installed. Most compression equipment required for Phase II has been ordered, it said. Filter deployment in 46 of the top 50 partial economic areas began June 1 and about 23% of Phase 1 filter installations are done, it said. Embratel said it expects to deorbit its Star One C1 satellite, which provides C-band services in the U.S., in late August or early September. It said one customer remains on the satellite and will be transitioned to another satellite before deorbiting. It said it has tried -- unsuccessfully -- for more than a year to contact its last indirect U.S. customer, a Florida earth station receiving C-band services through an Embratel distributor, to inform it about the C-band relocation and C-band capacity available on SES' SES-4 satellite. It said that earth station's license lapsed in December. Embratel said it no longer expects to rely on the SES arrangement to transition any of its C-band customers.
OneWeb received an additional $500 million investment from co-owner Bharti Global, and reached its $2.4 billion fundraising goal, said the company Tuesday. The new investment gives Bharti a 38.6% stake, with Eutelsat, SoftBank and the U.K. government each owning 19.3%. CEO Neil Masterson said completing funding "puts OneWeb in a powerful position." It has "significantly lower entry cost" than any low earth orbit satellite company, he said: "We benefit from $3.4bn of pre-Chapter 11 investment by the original shareholders, making new OneWeb a three-times lower cost Constellation." A scheduled July 1 launch will complete 40% of its planned satellite network, said Masterson.
Claiming the FCC OK of SpaceX's license modification "is causing, and will continue to cause, injury" in the form of interference to its direct broadcast satellite service, Dish Network asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for expedited briefing and oral argument in its challenge to the order, per a motion Monday (in Pacer, docket 21-1123). Dish said the FCC and SpaceX don't object to the motion.
SES has completed almost all of its Phase 1 satellite transitions, with all dual illumination of Phase 1 services expected to be done by Aug. 31, and is "on track [or] ahead of schedule" in its C-band transition plan, it said Tuesday in a docket 18-122 transition quarterly report. It said it has put in about 50% of the antennas that are part of the Phase 1 transition, and the rest will be done by Aug. 31. It said it installed filters at more than half of the Phase 1 sites. SES said all the independent earth stations associated with it that are to receive compression equipment have received it, and 96% have it installed. It said replacement satellite launch mission requirement reviews are progressing with SpaceX and United Launch Alliance. It said 93% of Phase 1 and 4% of Phase 2 service transitions on its satellites are done.
FCC allocation of the 2200-2290 MHz band for nonfederal space operations on a secondary basis takes effect July 28, says Monday’s Federal Register.
Incumbent C-band satellite operators have until July 7 to file in dockets 18-122 and 20-173 any amendments, explanations and updates to their transition plans submitted last year, said an FCC Wireless Bureau public notice Wednesday. It said satellite operators' quarterly status reports Dec. 31 and March 31 indicated some updates to their final transition plans, though the agency hasn't recognized any of those proposals.
Nokia will develop 5G base station radios, Ligado said Tuesday. Ligado says it's the first deal in North America to develop a commercial L-band offering. Ligado announced Monday the 3rd Generation Partnership Project OK'd related technical specifications (see 2106210006).
FCC and SpaceX oppositions to Viasat's requested judicial stay of SpaceX's license modification (see 2106150004) don't dispute the possibility the approval will have significant environmental impacts, only the likelihood of such harm, Viasat told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in a reply Monday (in Pacer, docket 21-1123). The commission and SpaceX don't dispute "market entry by an environmentally reckless operator causes Viasat irreparable competitive harm," Viasat said, saying the irreparable harms it and the public face outweigh any harms to SpaceX.
An application earlier this month for a blanket license for fixed earth stations (see 2106090002) erroneously indicates it's a request for authority to operate earth stations in motion, SpaceX told the FCC International Bureau Monday, correcting the narrative. Dish Network said the application is vague about whether it's an ESIM application or for fixed earth stations, and it doesn't mention a waiver request although that's necessary since ESIMs aren't authorized for non-geostationary 12 GHz band orbit operations.
The FCC International Bureau updated its roster of incumbent C-band fixed satellite service earth stations for the C-band transition, said a public notice Tuesday. It issued an order in the proceeding denying Back Porch and KTBS-TV Shreveport requests for their earth stations to be granted incumbent status. The order allowed Maranatha, Cocola/Boise Telecasters, Prism and WOW Ohio to make limited corrections to their lump sum elections and said the petition for reconsideration of the Oct. 30 lump sum election PN filed by Ronan Telephone and Western Montana CommunityTel is mooted by the lump sum election accepted the following month.