Comments are due July 21, replies Aug. 5, regarding AST SpaceMobile's request to operate an additional 243 satellites atop the five already authorized, said an FCC Space Bureau public notice Friday (docket 25-201). However, the bureau said it isn't taking comments on AST being allowed to conduct operations other than telemetry, tracking and control. The company earlier this month asked for approval to start offering supplemental coverage from space service in the U.S. using AT&T’s 800 MHz and lower 700 MHz spectrum and Verizon’s 800 MHz spectrum (see 2506130002).

In order to avoid orbital congestion from SpaceX's Starlink constellation, earth exploration satellite service operator PlanetiQ is seeking FCC approval to operate its GNOMES-5 satellite at a slightly higher orbital altitude. In a Space Bureau application posted Tuesday, it said operating at an altitude of up to 575 km -- instead of its currently authorized 560 km -- would let it avoid SpaceX's orbital shells and thus reduce the frequency of conjunction alerts.

Priorities for the FCC Space Bureau include modernizing its licensing process, ensuring spectrum availability for satellite services and tackling outdated technical rules that might slow the provision of satellite services, bureau Chief Jay Schwarz said last week on American Enterprise Institute's Explain to Shane podcast.

Comments are due July 28, replies Aug. 27, on updating spectrum sharing rules between geostationary and non-geostationary orbit satellite systems operating in the 10.7-12.7, 17.3-18.6 and 19.7-20.2 GHz frequency bands, said a notice in Friday's Federal Register. The docket is 25-157. Commissioners unanimously adopted the spectrum-sharing NPRM at their April meeting (see 2504280038).

Amazon is now eyeing Monday to launch its second batch of 27 Kuiper satellites, it said this week. The launch had originally been planned for Friday (see 2505290004).

Starlink's median download and upload speeds dramatically increased over the past three years, while its latency is down considerably, Ookla said Tuesday. It said U.S. users of the SpaceX satellite broadband service saw download speeds nearly double between the Q3 2022 average of 54 Mbps and Q1 2025's 104.7 Mbps. Upload speeds went from 7.5 Mbps on average to 14.8 Mbps. Ookla said its Speedtest data showed that only 17.4% of U.S. Starlink users are getting service that meets the 100/20 Mbps definition of broadband, primarily due to upload speeds. Starlink's promotional offer of free equipment to subscribers in areas where it has excess capacity should help drive its subscriber count, Ookla said.

The European Commission has signed off on SES' purchase of Intelsat without conditions. The satellite communications and broadcast delivery markets have other "credible competitors" that will exert "sufficient competitive pressure" on the newly combined company, it said. The new entity will also face fiber and low earth orbit satellite competition and won't be able to foreclose downstream competitors by restricting access to its satellite capacity, the commission added. Transfer of Intelsat's FCC licenses to SES is still pending at the agency.

Earth exploration satellite service (EESS) startup Novi Space wants to launch a pair of non-geostationary orbit EESS satellites in 2026. In an FCC Space Bureau application posted Tuesday seeking authorization, Novi said its satellites will collect data and then downlink it either to commercial ground stations or Iridium's satellite constellation. It said it anticipates putting up the two satellites on SpaceX launches scheduled for January and June next year.

FCC licensees will now be charged regulatory fees on authorized satellites and earth stations, rather than on operational ones. A regulatory fees order in Tuesday's Daily Digest said the agency is also setting a two-tier non-geostationary orbit satellite regulatory fee category: one for small constellations of fewer than 1,000 authorized satellites, and one for 1,000 or more. Those categories replace the existing "less complex" and "other" NGSO fee categories, it said. The changes "will more accurately" apportion fee burdens among licensees, and most will pay lower per-unit fees in FY 2025 than FY 2024, the FCC said. The changes "support the Commission’s goal that our regulatory fees are fair, administrable, and sustainable." It noted that the order was adopted last week, and then-Commissioner Geoffrey Starks didn't participate. The changes will go into effect with the FY 2025 regulatory fees.

AST SpaceMobile told the FCC Space Bureau the agency should continue to assess regulatory fees only on authorized and operational satellites and earth stations, not pre-operational ones. In docket 24-85 Thursday, AST recapped a meeting with the bureau, at which the company said charging such pre-operational regulatory fees could add big costs to new satellite deployments before a licensee has the opportunity to start service and earn revenues. Nonoperational systems require minimal post-authorization regulatory oversight, it said.