Venture capital investors in commercial space in recent years are waiting to see returns or an opportunity to cash out, Bessemer Venture Partners Vice President Tess Hatch said Wednesday at an FAA-organized commercial space event. She said over the next couple of years, SpaceX, Rocket Lab, Spire, Planet and Orbital are the most-likely space operators to be able to provide that. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said, along with its work to streamline launch and re-entry requirements to help foster the commercial launch industry, the agency created an Office of Spaceports and is working to integrate launch into the nation's airspace management system. She said commercial space is a White House priority. "The president is fascinated with space," she said. Deloitte analyst Jeff Matthews said private equity has been the lifeblood of space startups, but more nations are looking at investing in nascent space businesses there via government grants. Capella Space CEO Payam Banazedah said one challenge for many startups is they might be relatively niche, while venture capital wants potential high-return opportunities. He said Capella -- which launched its first satellite last year and plans seven more in 2020 -- is focusing on government defense and intelligence customers first, because the commercial market for synthetic-aperture radar imagery is at least five years out. John Gedmark, CEO of geostationary orbit satellite-provided mobile backhaul company Astranis, said the expected non-geostationary orbit mega constellation boom will bring global coverage at low latency, but the economics of those constellations remains a challenge. Gedmark said those NGSOs face the challenge of less-mature regulatory regimes and the uncertainty that comes with that. Banazedah said getting to space is still unreliable and hard, especially for small satellites, and that could kill startups.

Iridium's and Amazon Web Services' joint Iridium CloudConnect cloud-based global coverage for IoT applications is live, Iridium said Tuesday.

Regulatory hurdles proposed for Amazon's proposed Kuiper satellite constellation by non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) processing round participants and others (see 1910300003) are unwarranted and would frustrate broadband deployment and hurt future satellite investment and innovation, Amazon said in an FCC International Bureau posting Monday. It said Kuiper poses "a minimal and manageable risk of interference with good-faith coordination" and focusing on the number of Kuiper satellites without regard to system architecture and operational characteristics isn't a sensible way of evaluating interference likelihood. It said SpaceX is exaggerating the percentage of earth station links that might require coordination because its model involves only part of the planned SpaceX constellation, limiting satellite diversity. It said SpaceX in its interference simulations also assumes NGSO processing round participants won't engage in good-faith coordination, contrary to FCC rules. It said waiver of processing round rules is warranted since Kuiper can co-exist with other authorized systems and its operation won't foreclose future access to the Ka band. SpaceX didn't comment Tuesday.

With nascent non-geostationary orbit constellation operator Audacy out of business, Australian space and defense technology company Electro Optic Systems (EOS) wants to buy its NGSO license. In an FCC International Bureau application Friday, EOS said it has an asset purchase and transfer of control agreement with Horizon Technology Finance, Audacy's senior secured creditor, based on the FCC consenting to the license transfer. EOS said it has the capital and technical expertise to deploy the satellite system and provide the inter-satellite service links among low earth orbit satellites. Audacy's V-band constellation received FCC approval in 2018 (see 1806050057). EOS said Audacy launched a cubesat technology demonstrator in December 2018 but eventually ran out of money, began laying off staff in early 2019, and ceased operations by September.

The C-Band Alliance is continuing to lobby the FCC eighth floor about facilitating C-band clearing and how it should be compensated for such work, according to a docket 18-122 ex parte posting Monday recapping a meeting with General Counsel Tom Johnson, Office of Economics and Analytics acting Head Giulia McHenry and an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai. CBA has been pressing its case with agency officials (see 2001240059).

The C-Band Alliance's "vast and unique knowledge" and operating expertise are why it should be named clearing coordinator overseeing the operational aspects of clearing and transitioning C-band spectrum to 5G, it said in an FCC docket 18-122 posting Friday. Also in the plus column is all the preparation its satellite members have done planning for a transition to 5G from fixed satellite service, it said. Each satellite operator "uniquely understands its own operations, each also understands what must be done to clear a portion of the C-band for 5G use," it said. CBA said it backed the FCC or a third party being "a 'traditional' independent transition facilitator," doing such administrative functions as oversight of fund distribution. In a posting recapping meetings with FCC personnel including General Counsel Tom Johnson, CBA, Intelsat and SES said they discussed agency authority to require C-band auction winners to agree to pay for accelerated clearing as a condition of their participation, and to receive an initial license conveying terrestrial mobile rights. CBA said it met with staffers including Nick Degani, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai senior counsel, about its ability to facilitate a C-band transition and how it should be compensated for that work. It met with staffers including Office of Economics and Analytics acting Chief Giulia McHenry and Wireless Bureau Chief Donald Stockdale about how space and ground clearing of the band need to be done jointly and clearing the first 120 MHz is nearly as much work as clearing the next 180 MHz. The consortium said steps to be done to clear that first tranche in 18 months include reassigning Alaska traffic into the lower 120 MHz, which in turn will involve site visits to remote areas for re-pointing or installing new antennas; finalizing development of a switchable filter for 120 MHz for vessels; migrating services on international satellites that have services landing in the lower 48 states to the lower 300 MHz; deploying antennas and other equipment at receive earth station sites needed to move customers; migrating all video managed platforms above 3.82 GHz; and installing 34,000 filters designed specifically for 5G operations in the first 100 MHz in all antennas located in 46 of the top 50 partial economic areas and surrounding areas.

Dish Network plans to release a request for proposals for telecom transport to facilitate fiber connectivity to cell towers and data centers for its planned 5G network, the company said Thursday. "We see an opportunity to learn from nontraditional partners," said Executive Vice President-Wireless Operations Jeff McSchooler, "like utilities and municipalities that may be deploying fiber in their communities. We are exploring varying transport infrastructures to support our aggressive buildout." Vendors can email 5GtransportRFP@dish.com by Jan. 30 to request the RFP. Dish says it's committed to making its stand-alone 5G network available to 70 percent of the U.S. population by June 2023. The fate of T-Mobile's buying Sprint, approved by FCC and DOJ but held up by states' litigation, is expected to determine whether and when Dish's 5G network moves forward (see 2001150077). Company officials made a pitch to fiber providers at the fall Incompas Show (see 1911050016).

A C-Band Alliance paper by Brattle Group’s Coleman Bazelon and Paroma Sanyal, which said the FCC has authority to require companies buying licenses in a C-band auction to pay for clearing the band as a condition of their participation (see 2001160059), posted Friday in docket 18-122. “Smart policy with the right incentives could see C-Band spectrum start to be repurposed in as few as 18 months, with a full 280 megahertz available for terrestrial uses within 36 months,” the paper said. CBA reported on a meeting with Will Adams, aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr: “Participants discussed how the CBA could work cooperatively with the FCC to effectuate expeditious clearing of 280 megahertz of C-band spectrum for terrestrial 5G.”

The FCC International Bureau is discussing how to tackle non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite service licensing issues that the agency's NGSO FSS rules revision and streamlining didn't tackle (see 1709260035), bureau Satellite Division Policy Branch Chief Stephen Duall told us after an FCBA satellite event Wednesday. He said the Part 2 and Part 25 rules changes were necessary to allow processing of mega constellation applications, but matters like how to handle applications filed after the close of a processing round were left to be addressed on a case-by-case basis "and now they're being filed." Asked about the timing of updated orbital debris rules, he said the issue remains a priority for commissioners. He said the bureau is also "working ... diligently" to incorporate 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference actions on such items as earth stations in motion into its own rules, but couldn't give specifics on timing.

Kineis -- planning an IoT nanosatellite constellation in non-voice non-geostationary bands (see 1911260021) -- anticipates it will launch 25 satellites by the end of 2022, followed by another 25 by 2030, it said in an answer Monday to FCC International Bureau questions.