In its criticisms of SpaceX's pending license modification, Viasat "attempted to gaslight" the FCC into believing non-geostationary orbit satellites at lower orbits are more dangerous than NGSOs at higher orbits, contrary to FCC and NASA findings, SpaceX said in an International Bureau filing Tuesday in docket 18-313. It offered its own debris risk calculations, using NASA’s debris assessment software, and said Viasat's DAS analysis was generated from some questionable assumptions. It said additional Viasat analyses based on the kinetic theory of gases and one using the number of encounters assessment tool must be disregarded because the FCC hasn't ever considered, used or endorsed either analysis method. SpaceX "took six weeks to spin its rhetoric wheel and still came up empty," Viasat emailed us Wednesday. It said SpaceX "continues to ignore the full scope of risks presented by its mega-constellation, both in space and here on Earth. Those risks include the significant maneuverability failures on its satellites ... that fall well short of the high-reliability level it promised the Commission when seeking its license."
Even considering the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund proceeds SpaceX will receive, the business case for its terminals is iffy, and the company likely will need to rely "on really high-end, bandwidth-hungry subscribers" with particularly low churn rates to amortize those costs, Northern Sky Research analyst Lluc Palerm blogged Monday. Lowering end-user terminal costs is the linchpin of SpaceX and all low earth orbit constellations getting into the consumer broadband market, he said. SpaceX didn't comment Tuesday.
By burying the FCC in "voluminous untimely filings" filled mostly with discredited analyses and misreads of rules, SpaceX competitors try to delay agency approval, satellite operator representatives told the offices of Commissioners Geoffrey Starks, Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, per an International Bureau ex parte filing Monday. It urged agency OK of its pending license modification for relocating more than 2,800 planned satellites to a lower orbit (see 2007140001).
S&P Global placed DirecTV on “negative CreditWatch” on doubts that the pay-TV company will have a viable business “on a stand-alone basis” after AT&T’s spinoff to TPG is complete later this year (see 2102260022), said the ratings service Monday. “We view the pay-TV distribution segment as having weak business risk characteristics given the secular industry pressures and intense competition from incumbent cable operators,” plus Dish Network and streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu and Disney+. Ongoing financial support from AT&T is “uncertain,” it said.
Comments are due March 9 on the FCC 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee draft recommendations adopted at its meeting last week (see 2102230040), the International Bureau said in a public notice Friday. The draft views advocate the U.S. at WRC-23 support sharing and compatibility studies for new primary or secondary allocations for non-geostationary orbit mobile satellite service in the 1695-1710 MHz, 3300-3315 MHz and 3385-3400 MHz bands in Region 2, plus 2010-2025 MHz in Region 1.
Non-geostationary satellite orbit fixed satellite service systems no longer have a domestic coverage requirement, said Friday's Federal Register. FCC commissioners approved in August (see 2008280048).
When OneWeb initiates commercial service with its satellite-delivered broadband later this year (see 2102110056), it will start in Alaska, CEO Neil Masterson told FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, per a docket 20-443 post Friday. Masterson repeated arguments against opening the 12 GHz band to widespread terrestrial 5G operations.
The FCC will have the ability, effective March 31, to authorize blanket-licensed earth stations and satellites in a system through a unified license, says Monday's Federal Register. The Part 25 satellite rules order was adopted 5-0 in November (see 2011180043).
This year offers "significant opportunities" for SES, including its first $1 billion in incentive payments from C-band repurposing (see 2102250046), CEO Steve Collar said Thursday as the company announced results. He said the SES-17 high-throughput satellite and O3b mPower medium earth orbit constellation have an increasing backlog of $740 million, before launch in the second half of 2021. SES-17 and mPower should bring "sustained profitable revenue" starting in 2023, he said. Collar said C-band clearing is on track to meet the company's December 2021 and December 2023 deadlines. SES said its SES-18, -19, -20 and -21 satellites are on track for launch in the second half of 2022 as part of the C-band clearing. SES said its $2.29 billion in revenue in 2020 is down from $2.43 billion the previous year.
Incumbent C-band satellite operators told CohnReznick the procedures by which they're ready to fund the C-band clearinghouse and for processing their reimbursable costs and accelerated relocation payments, SES told an FCC Wireless Bureau staffer, per a docket 18-122 post Wednesday. SES said the incumbents are willing to finalize a clearinghouse agreement with CohnReznick if the sides agree.