Size Matters for Satellite System Risk, Viasat Says; Intelsat Urges Phased-In Fee Hike

Arguments that the relative risk of non-geostationary orbit satellites depends solely on their altitude ignore factors like constellation size and satellite mass, Viasat said Friday in docket 24-85. Assessing NGSO regulatory fees based on altitude risk alone "would be the epitome of arbitrariness," Viasat said. An NGSO system's size is "an imprecise proxy for staff work [but] it is at least a rational one," and levying regulatory fees in part based on NGSO constellation size "would ensure that the fee burden more closely aligns with the systems that occupy staff time the most," it said. Meanwhile, Intelsat representatives, meeting with FCC Space Bureau and Office of Managing Director staff, said the proposed 40% hike in regulatory fees that will pay for the creation of the Space Bureau is too big a bite to swallow at once. It urged a five-year phase-in.