Sateliot wants the FCC to revisit its Space Bureau's January decision dismissing the company's U.S. market access petition. In an application for review filed Friday, Sateliot said the bureau's rejection of the application to offer IoT services in the 2 GHz mobile satellite service (MSS) band, due to unavailability of that spectrum (see 2501080037), runs contrary to the FCC's 2019 smallsat order. That order lets applicants seeking authority under the streamlined small satellite processing rules apply for MSS frequencies, it said. Sateliot argued that the bureau was wrong in saying there wasn't enough information in the record to determine if Sateliot's system would meet the spectrum-sharing requirements under the smallsat processing rules.

Globalstar has inked a $1.1 billion contact with MDA Space for the construction of more than 50 software-defined low earth orbit satellites, MDA said Monday.

Business aviation remains a growth area for Viasat, and maritime should return to growth next year, CEO Mark Dankberg said in a call with analysts Thursday. Viasat continues integrating capacity from other satellite operators, expanding its in-flight connectivity coverage and capacity. He said that in Viasat's most-recent fiscal quarter, the number of commercial in-flight connectivity aircraft in service grew about 13% year over year, while business jets jumped 18%, and Viasat's aviation backlog gained 22%. Pointing to its ViaSat-3 Flight 1 satellite providing 130 Mbps service on a test of in-flight Wi-Fi capabilities during a 737 flight, he said the next two ViaSat-3 satellites launching should provide even better performance. He said ViaSat-3 Flight 2 should be shipped to Cape Canaveral, Florida, this summer and be in service by year's end, adding that Flight 3 should be launched and in service sometime in 2026. With fall's launch of Viasat's NexusWave maritime service, which uses low earth orbit and geostationary orbit satellites, the company is building an order pipeline that should see its maritime business returning to growth in fiscal year 2026, Dankberg said. Asked about the utility of Viasat's L-band spectrum if it's not coordinated contiguously with Ligado's L-band spectrum, he declined to comment, citing Ligado's bankruptcy proceeding.

Viasat's Inmarsat is asking a federal bankruptcy court to order Ligado to make its quarterly L-band coordination payments to Inmarsat. Ligado's continued use of the two companies' L-band spectrum "is essential -- and in fact a condition -- to the proposed restructuring on which Ligado has staked its future," Inmarsat told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware in a motion to compel (docket 1:25-bk-10006). Inmarsat said it's owed $500 million under the companies' cooperation agreement and hasn't received a quarterly payment for years. Inmarsat said it shouldn't have to allow Ligado continued use of Inmarsat spectrum for free. The company asked that the quarterly payments resume March 31. Ligado has said its Chapter 11 came after months of trying unsuccessfully to restructure its payment obligations to Inmarsat (see 2501060026).

The first Donald Trump administration made some headway on existential issues threatening GPS, but there's been little progress toward improved positioning, navigation and timing capabilities, according to the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation. The foundation said this week that it was circulating a position paper to the new presidential administration and members of Congress, urging evaluation of the current leadership and decision-making process and a way of ensuring enough funding for the protection, toughening and augmentation of civil and military capabilities. It also advised use of commercial services as much as possible.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware signed off on Ligado's debtor-in-possession financing plan to keep it afloat during its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to an order issued Wednesday (docket 25-10006). The financing plan had faced opposition from Viasat's Inmarsat (see 2501290075).

Any NPRM that looks at new power limits on non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellites should consider how the space industry and the assumptions underlying the original NGSO/geostationary orbit spectrum-sharing framework have changed, Amazon's Kuiper said. In a filing posted Monday, Kuiper recapped a meeting with FCC Space Bureau staffers where it presented four pages of suggested questions and topics for such an NPRM. It said the commission should ask about the level of protection GSO systems reasonably require and if the current equivalent power flux density (EPFD) limits are the right ones for that level of protection. The FCC also should ask if the current EPFD limits overly restrict NGSO operations, Kuiper said. It should seek input on a new NGSO/GSO spectrum-sharing framework and on the best methodology for protecting GSO operations that use adaptive coding and modulation. SpaceX has petitioned for higher EPFD limits (see 2408120018).

AST SpaceMobile received FCC signoff to test its supplemental coverage from space service. A pair of FCC Office of Engineering and Technology approvals received in January cover use of AT&T's lower 700 MHz and 850 MHz band spectrum, and of Verizon's 850 MHz spectrum with the satellite operator's BlueBird low earth orbit satellites. The approvals "represent a pivotal moment for AST SpaceMobile as we advance toward delivering seamless space-based cellular broadband connectivity,” Global Head-Regulatory Affairs Vikram Raval said Friday.

SES' purchase of Intelsat is a good opportunity to open up the upper C band to other satellite operators, according to SpaceX. In a docket 18-122 filing posted Friday, SpaceX said it wasn't opposing SES/Intelsat or suggesting the two -- which control more than 90% of the 4-4.2 GHz band -- lose that spectrum. But letting in more operators would put "this critical mid-band spectrum ... to its highest and best use," SpaceX said. It said the same software-defined satellites that SES and Intelsat say they will employ to use the upper C band more efficiently also should let SES share the band with other satellite systems after the purchase. An upper C-band sharing framework could have operators coordinate with one another, adding that the 20 MHz guard band at 3.98-4 GHz could also be used for mobile satellite service.

As of the end of 2024, the C-band relocation payment clearinghouse (RPC) has finished reviewing lump sum and non-lump sum claims and satellite operator claims, and it has moved to claims reconciliation, the RPC said in a docket 18-122 status report posted Friday. It said it reviewed $83.8 million worth of claims in Q4, and that reconciliation work will result in determinations of what adjustments might be needed to amounts reimbursed to satellite operators. Once reconciliation is done, the RPC will start work on the final accounting and audit, with the goal of finishing its C-band work by June.