Swarm Technologies, subject of an FCC Enforcement Bureau investigation of a previous unauthorized satellite launch (see 1805030034), is asking the Office of Engineering and Technology for an experimental license for more cubesats. Its OET application last week said the IoT connectivity startup "urgently needs to demonstrate the viability of its proposed satellite-based communications network to technical and business partners, potential investors, and potential customers" and it has a launch opportunity Sept. 1 for its three proposed two-way communications cubesats. A heavily redacted application said it would deploy two ground stations in California and Georgia and operate the satellites in the 137-138 MHz and 148-149.9 MHz bands. It said the satellites don't have their own propulsion systems, and should re-enter the atmosphere within 5.3 years. Monday, the FCC, company and its outside counsel didn't comment.

Though Inmarsat said last week it rejected a preliminary takeover offer from EchoStar, the latter is likely still interested in mergers and acquisitions and Inmarsat makes a good strategic fit, Citigroup's Jason Bazinet wrote investors Monday: That EchoStar is pursuing M&A (according to Inmarsat) isn't surprising because it has repeatedly indicated an interest. The analyst said the strategic benefits for EchoStar of such a deal -- global satellite coverage, cost synergies and creation of an IoT network that uses both satellite and terrestrial spectrum -- are numerous, though financial benefits are hazier. EchoStar didn't comment.

The annual Open-Market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications (Orbit) Act reports are no more. An FCC International Bureau public notice Monday noted the appropriations bill signed into law March 23 repealed Section 646 of the Satellite Act, which required annual Orbit Act reports. Chairman Ajit Pai was a critic of the requirement to annually report on the privatization status of long-since privatized Inmarsat and Intelsat (see 1706080064 and 1506100062). The bureau said the legislation also repealed Section 703 of the Satellite Act, which required the annual satellite competition report.

Dish Network and designated entities Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless further amended their business arrangements to try to fix problematic Dish de facto control issues, the satellite-TV company said in an SEC filing Friday. The amendments come atop other amendments made in April (see 1804040004). Dish said the latest amended Northstar and SNR agreements give the designated entities, among other things, the right to sell their right in their spectrum without consent of a Dish subsidiary anytime after Oct. 27, 2020 -- five years earlier than the previous agreements -- and to remove Dish subsidiaries' rights of first refusal with respect to sale of any AWS-3 licenses. Separately, the MVPD disclosed in an FCC filing earlier that day that representatives, including Chairman Charlie Ergen, had meetings with Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly on its wireless and IoT network plans. The company "has been negotiating definitive master supply agreements for" radios, chipsets and other things, it said in docket 17-183.

After last month's White House commercial space policy directive for regulatory reform of space activities, (see 1805240031), another space policy directive is being prepared on space traffic management, NASA acting Chief of Staff Tom Cremins told an American Bar Association event Thursday. He said it potentially could be signed at the next National Space Council meeting, and the aim is to create norms that allow responsible growth. State Department Director-Space and Advanced Technology Ken Hodgkins said there are international implications and concerns about in-orbit satellite servicing, with some countries not liking the idea of an outside party moving their satellites. He said there needs to be a licensing regime for such activities and a governmental understanding on who's responsible and liable for such missions, and where the line lies on liability when a U.S repurposing vehicle mates with another country’s satellite. Those issues “aren’t show stoppers per se” but need to be sorted through, he said. Embry-Riddle assistant professor of commercial Space operations Diane Howard said there’s a perception problem about space traffic management and the concept of a governing body directing traffic, and more focus is needed on space traffic coordination, with its inherent implication of involving parties that have some free agency. Panelists debated the Outer Space Treaty (OST) level of permissiveness for nontraditional activities. Hodgkins said it has long been U.S. policy to pursue or allow activities it thinks are permissible and then to justify them to the world. “If we set a model that makes sense, we want the rest of the world to follow that,” he said. Hodgkins said that minus particular restrictions in the OST, such as appropriation of territory, "you can do pretty much whatever you want to." OST isn't so much permissive as it contains rights and obligations and duties along with freedoms, and needs to be taken in totality and not in parsed-out sections, said space lawyer Oonagh Sands. She said language in the American Space Commerce Free Enterprise Act (HR-2809), passed by the House in April and now before the Senate, indicating the U.S. won't consider space a global commons, is "a most strange proposition” and doesn't fit with international law.

Ligado's proposal to lower power limits to protect certified aviation GPS receivers (see 1805310069) isn't anything new and doesn't assuage all aviation community fears, Aviation Spectrum Resources Inc. (ASRI) emailed us Tuesday. It's studying the proposal but called it "essentially unchanged" from the plan presented to Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics in 2016. It said many aviation operators raised concerns about aviation GPS interference from a Ligado site within a 250-foot radius and those worries haven't changed for most operators. It noted the Transportation Department recent adjacent band compatibility report (see 1805160009) said there hasn't been a full evaluation of the operational scenarios in developing the 250-foot radius assessment zone. ASRI believes the aviation community will support Ligado’s apparent willingness to use a technical methodology consistent with the DOT’s analysis for calculating the appropriate emission limits to protect aviation GPS at a specified distance. But ASRI said this doesn't address the outstanding operational concerns with Ligado’s unfounded assumption that the aviation community as a whole agreed to a 250-foot radius of interference.

The in-flight connectivity market will generate $37 billion in cumulative revenue by 2027, driven largely by high-throughput services (HTS) and more market penetration globally, Northern Sky Research said Monday. NSR said demand will hit nearly 295 Gbps of HTS capacity and more than 92 transponders of fixed satellite service Ku-band demand by then. It said only one in four International Air Transport Association-registered airlines had passenger in-flight connectivity at the end of 2017. The researcher said the pace of installations has been slower than expected, and profit margins have been squeezed by lower capacity pricing. It said revenue should close to double this year, with a 50 percent growth in the number of aircraft with in-flight connectivity capabilities.

Nokia, Air France, Aeromexico and GOL-Linhas Aereas Inteligentes are joining the Seamless Air Alliance, the in-flight connectivity group said Monday. It said one of the next steps is working group collaborations on a set of standards. OneWeb, Airbus, Airtel, Delta and Sprint formed the alliance earlier this year (see 1803050009).

Non-geostationary orbit startup Astranis Space Technologies received more time for tests and demos of its Demosat-2 satellite star tracking and telco capabilities, said FCC Office of Engineering and Technology experimental authority approval Friday. Astranis said the satellite was to be launched Oct. 1, and had received experimental authorization to run through April 2, but ultimately didn't go up until Jan. 12. The new approval is for six months commencing June 15.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned down Dish Network's petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc of the appellate court's decision on the insurability of punitive or Telephone Consumer Protection Act statutory damages (see 1804090003), said a docket 17-1140 order (in Pacer) Tuesday. Dish didn't comment Thursday.