ViaSat's satellite-based residential broadband service offers speeds of up to 100 Mbps and unlimited data plans, the company said Tuesday, unveiling the service. The service comes from the company's ViaSat-2 satellite, and it has plans at 12 Mbps, 25 Mbps, 30 Mbps, 50 Mbps and 100 Mbps nationwide. It plans ViaSat-2 services for business and government, plus commercial and business aircraft in-flight connectivity. It said its first ViaSat-3 satellite, which will offer 1 Tbps network capacity, is expected to go into service in 2020 in the Americas, to be followed with a second satellite months later for Europe, Middle East and Africa coverage, and with a third ViaSat-3 planned for Asia-Pacific.
Gilat Satellite Networks and Intelsat signed an agreement for Gilat to use Intelsat capabilities in its expansion of 4G wireless services in North America, Intelsat said Monday. It said Ku-band services from two if its satellites will be used to let mobile network operator customers of Gilat's expand network coverage to serve remote areas in the North American market.
S&P downgraded Dish Network to a B from B+, citing in part the “substantial subscriber losses” the company reported last week in its direct broadcast satellite business, said a Monday update. Dish had 9.4 percent fewer satellite subscribers Dec. 31 than a year earlier, while Sling TV subscriptions rose 47.4 percent (see 1802210043). Though “certain scenarios” involving Dish’s plans “to monetize spectrum investments could be credit positive longer term, such as a leasing agreement, rating upside is limited over the next year,” said S&P. Dish representatives didn’t comment. Dish shares closed 1.1 percent higher Monday at $44.95.
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology signed off on a ViaSat experimental license modification adding the ViaSat-2 satellite to a test of fixed very small aperture terminal equipment and increasing the geographic footprint to include Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, it said Monday.
Harbinger Capital and SkyTerra's former owners and management agreed to stay Harbinger's $1.9 billion fraud complaint (see 1712270012) through this calendar year, with a status conference scheduled for Jan. 2, said a New York State Supreme Court docket 657515-2017 filing Wednesday.
Self-described "private space agency" SpaceChain put its first blockchain node satellite into orbit, it said Friday. It said SpaceChain uses an open-source platform that allows developers anywhere to design apps that can employ orbital communications capabilities. It said it plans to launch two more low earth orbit satellites this year.
A tech industry-backed study showing Wi-Fi can coexist with primary users in the 5.925-7.125 GHz band (see 1801260043) fails to show mid-band use by terrestrial services won't raise the risk of unacceptable interference in the 7.025-7.075 GHz band to Sirius XM's feeder links, the company told International Bureau members, according to a docket 17-183 ex parte filing posted Thursday. It said it's preparing its own analysis of interference risks to the Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS) feeder link frequencies that will be submitted when done. Sirius said its own initial review of the tech industry study found analysis defects that call into question the conclusions -- for example, no analysis of potential interference specific to the SDARS' unique characteristics. The tech industry study also focuses only on aggregate interference from terrestrial services to the satellite-received signal quality, ignoring the possibility a meaningful number of terrestrial devices located near Sirius XM feeder link sites on the ground could interfere with SDARS fleet uplinks. It said it doesn't object to sharing its feeder link spectrum with fixed service licensees since that makes coordination with Sirius feeder link sites possible. Outside counsel for the tech companies didn't comment Friday.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court summary judgment in favor of Ace American Insurance that it has no duty to defend or indemnify Dish Network in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) telemarketing lawsuit. In the docket 17-1140 decision (in Pacer) Wednesday, the appellate court agreed TCPA statutory damages were civil penalties and uninsurable under Colorado law and the insurance policies don't cover injunctive relief. Ruling were Judges Carlos Lucero, Monroe McKay and Carolyn McHugh, with McHugh writing the decision. Dish didn't comment Thursday.
Two test satellites for SpaceX's planned Starllink broadband satellite constellation were successfully launched on SpaceX Falcon 9, CEO Elon Musk tweeted (see here and here) Thursday. They are called Tintin A and B, he said.
DirecTV should discontinue some advertised claims about its DBS service, the National Advertising Division (NAD) said Thursday. It said Charter Communications challenged claims in five print and online ads, including multiple claims of "worry-free signal reliability." NAD said DirecTV indicated it plans to appeal.