O3b Asks for More Time for Meeting MPower Milestones

SES' O3b is asking the FCC for 26 additional months to meet milestones for making operational its Ka-band satellites authorized in the agency's U.S. market access order. In an FCC Space Bureau application posted Monday, O3b said the COVID-19 pandemic initially delayed its mPower satellites. Next, performance deficiencies were discovered in 2023 in the first four mPowers. It said design updates addressing those issues delayed manufacture of later mPowers. It asked that its milestone deadline for having 50% of the mPowers in the U.S. market access application be operational move from June 7, 2024, to Aug. 7, 2026. It also asked that the milestone deadline for the remaining 50% be moved from June 7, 2027, to Aug. 7, 2029.