L3Harris will pay $100,000 to settle FCC findings that nearly two weeks of uplinks to its HSAT-1 cubesat were done outside the authorized band, the Enforcement Bureau said Friday. It said uplinks were authorized in the 2095.875-2097.125 MHz band, but 13 days' worth of transmissions were done on the 2095.375-2095.875 MHz band. EB said transmissions apparently didn't cause any harmful interference. The company emailed it "takes compliance very seriously," and it identified and self-reported the frequency issue, and cooperated fully. "We reached a settlement agreement and are implementing a detailed compliance plan," it said.
The Dish Network Hopper DVR and Wally receiver now support the Google Nest Hello Video doorbell, said Dish Friday. When the doorbell rings, Nest Hello sends on-screen notifications directly to a connected TV. It's the first MVPD to integrate a Google Nest device.
Amazon representatives pressed eighth-floor offices about waiving FCC rules on processing round procedures for non-geostationary orbit systems. The reps argued that applying spectrum sharing rules to the proposed Kuiper constellation will provide regulatory certainty, encourage investment and accelerate broadband deployment, per an International Bureau posting Wednesday. Amazon said good-faith coordination will ensure system compatibility and encourage new entry into the satellite broadband market. Amazon reps met with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and the four regular commissioners. The company announced plans Thursday for a 219,000-square-foot primary headquarters for Kuiper R&D and prototype manufacturing in Redmond, Washington. It said renovations on the leased space are underway, with the company taking over the space in 2020.
SpaceX received FCC International Bureau OK for reconfiguring its planned 4,425-satellite low earth orbit constellation with more orbital planes at the 500 kilometer altitude and fewer satellites in each plane (see 1909030043). Thursday's order said since the modification doesn't involve orbit altitude or number of satellites, there's "no material change to the interference environment." It dismissed a Kepler petition (see 1910160018) to defer or deny, saying there's no reason to delay SpaceX operations while another Kepler petition seeking reconsideration of an earlier SpaceX constellation modification is pending. IB said Kepler didn't provide a sufficient basis to deny the modification due to an alleged increased collision risk involving SpaceX satellites. It dismissed SES/O3b concerns about equivalent power flux density limits. Kepler and SES/O3b didn't comment. The bureau said the pending petitions for reconsideration of the earlier modification order will be handled separately.
Hiber wants a blanked license to operate up to 10,000 mobile earth station user terminals in conjunction with its planned 24-satellite non-voice non-geostationary constellation (see 1908160043). In an FCC International Bureau application Tuesday, it said the IoT user modems will be dormant 99 percent of the time, operating only when a satellite is overhead, and are designed to operate in the field for up to 10 years on a single battery. It said they will operate in the 399.9-400.05 MHz band for uplinks and the 400.15-401-MHz band for downlinks.
An increasing number of federal agencies "are following in [DOD] footsteps" in intransigence to relinquish or share spectrum with the private sector instead of deferring to the FCC and NTIA, said Ligado General Counsel Valerie Green in a Technology Policy Institute podcast Monday. She said opposition isn't based on legitimate technical concerns but is "a turf war." She said the private sector is interested in figuring out how to incentivize or revise government to change those spectrum dynamics. She said there needs to be more clarity about agencies' authority and roles, and more transparency in agency decision-making. Ligado CEO Doug Smith said adoption of the 1 dB standard for interference protection has implications for bands in use and coming into use and "a lot of inefficient use of spectrum." DOD didn't comment Tuesday.
Myriota and Swarm clashed over terms of FCC OK of Swarm's non-geostationary orbit constellation using some non-voice non-geostationary (NVNG) mobile satellite service bands (see 1910180003). Myriota's reply Friday said its petition for clarification systems like Swarm's, with nondirectional antennas, raise inherent mutual exclusivity concerns that need addressing. It said the Swarm order has seemingly contradictory clauses about whether it would have to take part in a future processing round. It said interest in a new NVNG processing round underscores the importance of the issues in the petition. Swarm's opposition earlier this month said the issues Myriota raises aren't relevant to merits of granting Swarm's satellite application, but to the separate issue of how it should process Myriota’s petition for declaratory ruling for U.S. market access in the VHF NVNG bands.
Dish Network pushed convenience in announcing the Amazon Prime Video app on its Hopper 3 DVR Monday. Hopper owners can launch the Prime Video app via voice remote or the channel guide vs. having to switch inputs and devices, it said.
NTIA's letter to the FCC on Ligado's requested license modification applications (see 1912090011) doesn't say anything new, the commission record has been complete for years, and the applications review process is complete, the company told aides to Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Jessica Rosenworcel, per a docket 11-109 posting Friday. The company urged a vote on an order on the applications.
With two satellites put into orbit in 2018, Hiber expects Hiber-3 and -4 to go up in the first half of 2020, company representatives told aides to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and the other commissioners and International Bureau staff, per a parte posting Wednesday. The Dutch company urged approval of its market access request (see 1809110001), which has been pending 15 months, by February. Without it, it said the ability to attract investors to its satellite IoT business is impaired.