Median U.S. download speeds of SpaceX's Starlink constellation vary widely, from 40.36 Mbps in Columbia County, Oregon, to 93.09 Mbps in Shasta County, California, Ookla said Wednesday, citing its Q1 speed tests. This was sometimes an improvement over local fixed ISPs, while other times it's slower. The speed testing firm reported the downlink range in Canada -- 53.61-80.57 Mbps -- was narrower. Starlink latency was higher in all but one U.S. county. And 86.7% of Starlink U.S. users met the threshold of 25/3 Mbps, compared with 83.2% with fixed providers. SpaceX didn't comment.
The FCC got widespread pushback to its proposed satellite operator indemnification requirement, and academic small satellite researchers would be especially harmed because public universities often have particular obstacles, like Colorado effectively barring indemnification by state agencies, said Scott Palo, University of Colorado aerospace engineering sciences professor, in a docket 18-313 posting Wednesday. Indemnification "is an unnecessary and unhelpful approach" for small satellite missions, since academic researchers "are already deeply invested in careful stewardship of the orbital environment," he said. Many satcom operators lobbied against an indemnification requirement (see 2101140069).
Targeting the burgeoning IoT market, Skylo Technologies asked the FCC for a blanket license for up to 1 million mobile terminals that will connect with the Inmarsat 4-F3 and Skyterra 1 satellites, said an International Bureau application Tuesday. Skylo said the earth stations will transmit in the 1.6265-1.6605 GHz band and receive in the 1.525-1.559 GHz band. It said it's eyeing such applications as fishing vessels, trucking and agriculture.
Approval of AT&T's planned $7.8 billion spinoff of its DirecTV and U-verse video distribution business (see 2102240046) should be conditioned on New DirecTV providing local-into-local service in all 210 designated market areas, ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC affiliates told the FCC International Bureau Monday. Applications "are entirely silent" on viewers' access to local programming and the 12 DMAs where DirecTV doesn't provide local-into-local even after years of promises, they said. All other MVPDs, including Dish Network, provide this and if that's not sufficient incentive, "the market won't provide one" and the FCC needs to step up, they said. AT&T didn't comment.
SpaceQuest wants FCC authority to operate its AprizeSat-8 and AprizeSat-10 non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) small satellites and do satellite-based vessel tracking under streamlined smallsat rules, per an International Bureau application Monday. The two were launched in 2013 and 2014, and have operated under Part 5 rules, and now seek authority to operate under Part 25 rules, it said. It said that Part 5 operating authority expires July 1, and it asked for a 180-day special temporary authority to operate the two while its Part 25 authorization application is pending.
RS Access not submitting its technical findings on 12 GHz spectrum sharing before initial comments "is the equivalent to lobbying the judges in advance of briefing by citing evidence it refuses to provide" to parties, SpaceX said in FCC docket 20-443 Monday. It and other satellite operators urged submitting technical findings before the May 7 comments deadline when RSA says they will be submitted (see 2104290062). SpaceX said RSA should submit a schedule, or admit it won't file them or the studies don't exist. RSA didn't comment.
R2 Space seeks a $31,510 refund of the license modification application fee for its XR-1 non-geostationary orbit satellite, citing FCC fee revisions adopted 3-2 in December (see 2012300044), said a petition Friday. The lower fees aren't yet in place "only because certain ministerial actions remain to be taken to implement it fully," and the agency should determine that the proper modification application fee for R2 is $2,175 and refund the difference of the $33,685 it paid, it said. The commission didn't comment.
Nearly 1,000 new objects in orbit were cataloged in the past six months, and there were two debris-generating events in March, but the FCC "is continuing a 'business-as-usual' approach" of license approvals without considering the aggregated orbital debris risk, Astroscale told aides to the regular commissioners, per a docket 18-313 post Friday. A license request for multiple satellites must be assessed in its entirety for assessing orbital environment impact via an aggregate risk calculation, and calculating only the collision risk of a single satellite in each system fails in quantifying the risk of an entire constellation, it said. The FCC should cap the collision risk posed by each licensed system, enforce that cap and monitor aggregate collision risk by required reports, the company said.
The FCC International Bureau approved SiriusXM XM-5 satellite testing in the wireless communications service C- and D-block spectrum that it's buying from AT&T (see 2104070003).
Lack of global harmonization of the 2020-2025 MHz bands doesn't preclude initiating a rulemaking about the band, as the FCC can still determine spectrum allocations in the U.S., Kepler posted Thursday in RM-11869. It and Spire have a pending petition on a mobile satellite service allocation in the band strictly for small satellites (see 2012220049). Kepler said an NPRM would be the right forum "to transparently address and compare the merits of competing technical claims."