CTA said another competitor in broadband delivery can speed up innovation and cut consumer costs, in an FCC International Bureau letter posted Wednesday. It urged the agency expeditiously approve Amazon's proposed Kuiper Ka-band constellation (see 1907050015).
The 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference adopted milestones for deployment of non-geostationary orbit satellites in certain bands and services, the ITU said Wednesday. It said since 2011 it's received filings for NGSO system frequency assignment for thousands of satellites, especially in fixed satellite service and mobile satellite service bands. It said such systems will now have to deploy 10 percent of their constellations within two years from the end of the current period, 50 percent within five years and have complete deployment within seven years.
OneWeb Satellites -- the OneWeb/Airbus satellite manufacturing joint venture (see 1706270064) -- joined the Satellite Industry Association, SIA said Tuesday.
SpaceX's repeated arguments about non-geostationary orbit operators having to operate U.S.-licensed earth stations to claim “home spectrum” selection priority (for example, (see 1907220014) are based on flawed arguments and rhetorical flourishes, OneWeb said in an FCC International Bureau posting Monday. It said the basis of SpaceX's home spectrum priority claim keeps shifting. SpaceX didn't comment Tuesday.
Australian IoT smallsat operator Myriota, which asked for U.S. market access for a non-voice non-geostationary (NVNG) constellation in the 399.9-400.05 MHz and 400.15-401 MHz bands (see 1908160043), also wants FCC OK to operate in the NVNG VHF bands of 137-138 MHz and 148-150.5 MHz bands. In an International Bureau declaratory petition posted Tuesday, it said the agency should do a processing round for the NVNG VHF bands to establish the maximum number of systems that can operate in the bands.
The U.S. should study China’s efforts to dominate emerging technology sectors, said the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The congressionally created commission's annual report said China's outpacing the U.S. in artificial intelligence. Though it recommended Congress consider increased export controls, it said curbs on smart chips may “only accelerate China’s efforts to produce sophisticated chips domestically.” China faces “nearly insurmountable” hurdles in its effort to develop comparable technology to that of the U.S., as China’s semiconductor industry “is still heavily reliant on foundational technology dominated by U.S. firms,” the panel said Thursday. China's taking a “commanding position” in commercial satellite sectors, the commission found: That lets the country undercut some U.S. and other countries’ launch and satellite providers. The commission urged Congress to direct the National Science Foundation and the Trump administration to study China’s influence in international bodies charged with developing standards for emerging technologies. The China Embassy didn't comment.
Use of small spot beams, dynamic channel reassignment, a global software-defined networking controller and flexible network control will mean Amazon's Kuiper low earth orbit broadband satellite system won't materially affect the Ka-band operating environment for other non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) fixed satellite systems sharing that spectrum, Amazon said in an FCC International Bureau filing Wednesday. It said its requested waiving of processing round procedures for NGSO systems wouldn't change its spectrum sharing obligations. It said arguments by other NGSO operators that the waiver would destroy the processing round framework (see 1910310014) ignore that its waiver request's based on Kuiper technical features that show it can share spectrum with currently authorized systems and future entrants. It said the FCC never promised NGSO operations authorized in the 2016 Ka-/Ku-band proceeding that they wouldn't face new competition before they deploy or surrender their authorizations. It said Boeing withdrawing its application (see 1808060005) and revocation of LeoSat's U.S market access give more flexibility to remaining NGSO authorization holders and new entrants to coexist.
Spectrum designated for 5G is far enough away from spectrum used for global navigation satellite systems, but Ligado's proposed broadband terrestrial low-power service in an adjacent band clearly is a threat to GPS and other satellite navigation services, the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation (RNTF) said in an FCC docket 11-109 filing Thursday. It said interference with precision aviation applications is a particular concern. It said the only technical reports that back the Ligado-sought waivers were narrow and paid for by the satellite operator. It said a Ligado offer to compensate the government for harm to its users wouldn't make up for the loss of mission, especially for the military and first responders, and the biggest potential harm isn't to government users but civil ones. RNTF has raised red flags about Ligado plans (see 1810190010). Ligado emailed there's "absolutely no evidence anywhere that Ligado’s proposal will cause harmful interference to GPS receivers" and that GPS manufacturers "are on the record in this proceeding acknowledging coexistence is possible, and the science and data support that fact." Just because the author chooses to point out the current flaws in GPS -- flaws that are only exacerbated by poorly designed receivers -- does not change that fact," it said.
SES wants to increase the licensed lifespan of its NSS-10 C-band satellite to Jan. 6, 2029, it said in an FCC International Bureau filing Monday. Though the satellite's current license term expires April 6, SES said its "overall health is good" and it has enough fuel to provide service through the extended license term and de-orbit.
BlackSky received a $50 million senior secured loan from Intelsat, which it said Tuesday was an industry first strategic relationship pairing earth observation with global communications. It said over time, it could use Intelsat satcom capabilities to deliver services to customers anywhere worldwide. It said it has four satellites slated for early 2020 launch, which would double its constellation size, and plans to have 16 in orbit by early 2021. NOAA signed off on the larger constellation plans (see 1910250008).