Ligado -- facing pushback from certified aviation GPS interests about possible interference from its terrestrial low-power broadband service (TLPS) (see 1805160009, 1709260048 and 1708070025) -- is pledging new power limits on its use of the 1526-1536 MHz band to protect those GPS receivers. A docket 11-109 filing Thursday amended its modification applications to set equivalent isotropically radiated power limits on its ancillary terrestrial component base stations and to require that its ATC base stations can't operate in that band near an FAA-established obstacle clearance surface. That should "fully protect" certified aviation GPS receivers, it said, adding those protections are consistent with issues brought up in Transportation Department test results on adjacent-band compatibility to GPS (see 1805160009). The company will take mitigation steps that include upgrading or replacing government devices as a fix to concerns about potential effects on U.S. government devices, "and expects a requirement." It said if the FCC approves its TLPS plans, it will invest as much as $800 million on its satellite and terrestrial network. Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry in a statement said the group agrees with Ligado "that mid-band spectrum offers important opportunities for deploying next generation technologies," and the FCC should "make as much spectrum available as possible for commercial use. ... The overwhelming consumer demand for wireless connectivity and next generation technologies including 5G have made it more important than ever for the FCC to look at every opportunity to free up additional spectrum where possible." The National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing didn't immediately comment.
Moody's downgraded its ratings outlook on ViaSat from positive to negative, citing lack of clarity about when its earnings decline turns around. Moody's also said Wednesday it expects ViaSat to be "significantly cash flow negative" in FY 2019 as it ramps up spending on two ViaSat-3 satellites while its commercial networks operation still struggles. The company didn't comment.
Allowing O3b to modify its market access grant to provide mobile satellite service (MSS) in the 19.7-20.2 and 29.5-30 GHz bands would "make a mockery" of the FCC's satellite licensing process, Iridium representatives told aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel, according to an ex parte filing Tuesday. It said at most, the FCC should give O3b access only to parts of MSS feeder-link bands that include an allocation for non-geostationary fixed satellite service, namely the 19.3-19.4 GHz and 19.6-19.7 GHz bands. It said the FCC's Ka-band plan currently prohibits O3b from providing MSS in the spectrum it wants to use and the agency hasn't looked at what effects MSS operations might have in that spectrum. Thus O3b should petition the FCC for a rulemaking on changes to the Ka-band plan rather than be granted a waiver that would essentially be an "unstudied change in rules." O3b outside counsel didn't comment Wednesday. The O3b draft order is on the June agenda (see 1805160051).
Orbital ATK received an experimental license for a satellite test bed facility in Herndon, Virginia, to be used for integrating and testing commercial communications satellites at 1575.42, 1176.45 and 1800 MHz, the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology said Tuesday.
Iridium and Gogo agreed to make Gogo a manufacturer of Iridium Certus aviation terminals and a provider of the L-band in-flight connectivity service, Iridium said Tuesday. It said Gogo has been an Iridium reseller since 2002. It said initial flight trials for Certus aviation applications will be later this year, with commercial service targeting aviation users to start in mid-2019.
Sports bars and DirecTV subscribers aren't challenging the existence of DirecTV's "Sunday Ticket" but rather the agreements that prevent any competition with it, the appellants said in a docket 17-56119 reply brief (in Pacer) filed Friday in the 9th U.S. District Court of Appeals. The appellants said it's clear the Supreme Court's 1984 NCAA v. Board of Regents of University of Oklahoma ruling that NCAA exclusive contracts with broadcasters had apparently anticompetitive consequences holds sway in this case claiming anticompetitive consequences of DirecTV's agreements with the NFL. The appellants are challenging a U.S. district judge's decision last year throwing out consolidated complaints suing the MVPD and NFL over Sunday Ticket programming (see 1804020003). Outside counsel for DirecTV owner AT&T didn't comment Tuesday.
The first deployments of Dish Network's planned narrowband IoT network should start by year-end, with the core network installed this summer, Chairman Charlie Ergen told Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Brendan Carr in meetings recapped in an FCC docket 17-183 posting Friday. Dish said it plans to take delivery of radios for the network by fall and is identifying and acquiring tower sites. It said the first wave of installations of radios on towers in some markets will be done by year's end, with deployments to continue through 2019. The company said stand-alone 5G standardization work will go in parallel, and during completion of phase one of the IoT network, it will be upgraded and expanded to 5G. Ergen has said phase two would involve integrating 5G connectivity (see 1708030043). Dish said that during Q1, it signed lease agreements with more than a dozen tower companies and has been signing agreements with regional and nationwide vendors for site acquisition, installation and other construction services. The satellite-TV provider urged the FCC to act on a petition for rulemaking by the MVDDS (multichannel video distribution and data service) 5G Coalition seeking use of the 12.2-12.7 GHz band for 5G broadband (see 1604260068). Dish is a member of the coalition.
The fee associated with filing multiple C-band receive-only earth station registrations is deterring some operators from registering, Society of Broadcast Engineers and LinkUp Communications representatives told FCC staffers, according to a docket 17-183 posting Thursday. For larger operators with many antennas, those fees could end up in the tens of thousands of dollars, and for small operators even filing fees of hundreds of dollars can be a financial strain, the broadcast interests said. They also said the need to file individual Form 312s for each site is a deterrent since many operators are unfamiliar with the form or don't have the technical staff to do multiple applications in a timely manner. They said a 90-day window is too short and asked it be extended. In a separate ex parte posting Thursday in the docket, Intelsat and SES recapped a meeting with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai at which the companies separately discussed the tools and methods they would use for clearing part of the C-band. The companies also said they again said 100 MHz of C-band could "reasonably" be cleared in 18 to 36 months of an FCC order, but more spectrum "would be substantially more expensive and time consuming." The companies made a similar presentation to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's office (see 1805100028)
President Donald Trump signed a commercial space policy directive Thursday that includes having federal agencies craft a report for the White House on bettering the nation's global competitiveness for space radio frequency spectrum policies, regulation and activities at the ITU and other multilateral forums. The directive said the Transportation Department is to put out a new regulatory system for launch and re-entry activity by "targeting an industry that is undergoing incredible transformation with regulations that have failed to keep up." It said the DOT secretary will consider requiring a single license for all types of commercial space flight launch and re-entry operations "and replacing prescriptive requirements in the process with performance-based criteria." It also said the Commerce Department secretary should review commercial remote sensing regulations for consistency with the directive’s policy and address non-conforming regulations. It gives the commerce secretary 30 days to craft a plan for a "one-stop shop" within the agency for administering and regulating commercial space flight activities. And it ordered the National Space Council to review export licensing regulations affecting commercial space flight activity and deliver recommendations to the White House within 180 days. Satellite Industry Association President Tom Stroup in a statement said that SIA's "delighted with the President’s recognition of the importance of the commercial space business" and it's "strongly encouraged" by the global competitiveness report directive. Commercial Spaceflight Federation Chairman Alan Stern in a statement said commercial space operations have "been innovating ... and competing around the world under the burden of regulations written decades ago, in some cases rooted in the Cold War," but now companies "can foresee a more streamlined legal and administrative regime that will allow us to continue to help transform how Americans access and use space.”
Orbit raising and payload testing for Telesat's phase one low earth orbit (LEO) satellite is done, and it's ready to demonstrate broadband capabilities, Orbit said Tuesday. It said Global Eagle Entertainment, OmniAccess, Optus Satellite and others will take part in live trials. It's evaluating options to expand its LEO constellation beyond current plans for 120 satellites providing global coverage.