The FCC's supplemental coverage from space (SCS) framework adopted at the March open meeting (see 2403140050) gives AST SpaceMobile a path to more than 200 Mhz of spectrum for direct-to-device services, CEO Abel Avellan said Monday evening as the company announced Q4 results. He said the framework also should facilitate AST's pending applications with the FCC. AST expects that many regulatory agencies globally will follow the U.S. SCS regime, he said, offering Brazil's proposed SCS framework as an example. He said its five Block I Bluebird satellites should launch in July or August, with the first of its Block II satellites launching between December 2024 and March 2025. The investment of AT&T, Google and Vodafone announced in January (see 2401180068) gives AST funding to launch the Block I satellites and the initial Block IIs, Avellan said. He added the Google agreement also includes collaboration on product development. "It’s super strategic for us" and will "create value on the Android ecosystem for our customers and end users," he said. Startup AST reported no revenue for the quarter.

Xplore hopes to launch an Xcube-1 remote sensing small satellite on a SpaceX rideshare between Q4 this year and Q2 2025, the company told the FCC Space Bureau in an application posted Tuesday seeking permission to launch and operate the satellite. The company said it plans a low earth orbit constellation that will provide remote sensing data products and edge computing on multiple payload computers.

Capella is seeking FCC Space Bureau sign-off to add two more satellites to an existing authorization. In an application posted Monday for authority to modify its license, the company said Acadia-5 and Acadia-6 would join its authorization for Acadia-1 through -4. The company said 10 of its 13 satellites already authorized -- the Acadias and Capella-2 through Capella-10 -- are deployed. Acadia-5 and -6 are slated to launch in Q3 and Q4, respectively, said Capella. The earth imaging company said the two additional satellites will let it offer a wider variety of imagery and other data products.

SpaceX could quickly become a major player in the emerging optical communications terminal (OCT) market, Quilty Space wrote Monday. The company said last month at Satellite 2024 that it would begin selling the product. SpaceX probably doesn't envision being a supplier as a major commercial opportunity, but likely sees this as a way of driving interoperability standards, Quilty said. SpaceX pushing its optical inter-satellite link system could help it set terminal inter-satellite link standards, Quilty said. The company also likely sees an opportunity to drive network traffic onto its Starlink system via integration of its OCTs onto others' satellites, it said.

The government of Canada agreed to make a loan of roughly $1.58 billion to help fund Telesat's planned Lightspeed low earth orbit constellation, Telesat said Monday. The first Lightspeeds are scheduled for launch in June 2026 and offer full global coverage and service by the end of 2027 (see 2403280044).

SpaceX's successful small satellite rideshare launch program limits launch startups' "latitude for making mistakes," Ill-Defined Space's John Holst blogged Friday. He said SpaceX's Starship heavy launch vehicle "will narrow that even more." And Chinese launch operators potentially could "be more devastating" than SpaceX on other smalllsat launchers, he said. Many startups are ignoring the value proposition SpaceX offers for launching smallsats cheaply.

Aerkomm plans to combine with special purpose acquisition company IX Acquisition Corp. to take Aerkomm public, the California satellite communications technology company said Friday. The combined business will be called Akom, it said. The transaction should close in Q3, pending approval of IX and Aerkomm shareholders, it said.

Telesat expects a "significant" revenue decline this year in its geostationary orbit business owing to cord-cutting and increased SpaceX competition, CEO Dan Goldberg said as the company announced Q4 2023 results Thursday. However, in a call with analysts, Goldberg said the company doesn't expect a similar decline in future fiscal years. He said Telesat anticipates video-related declines this year due to cord-cutting continuing to erode its direct-to-home service. Telesat also is seeing notable declines in its maritime connectivity business with customers increasingly seeking low earth orbit (LEO) service and many of them migrating to SpaceX's Starlink, he added. "If anything, the transition to LEO is happening a little faster than even we expected," Goldberg said, which validates Telesat's investment in its Lightspeed LEO constellation. The company said it posted revenue of roughly $520 million for 2023, and expects 2024 revenue of $402 million to $417 million. Goldberg said Telesat is hiring aggressively as it develops Lightspeed. The company ended 2023 with nearly 500 employees, with 35% of them working on Lightspeed, he said. Head count at 2024's end will near 740 with about half working on Lightspeed. The first Lightspeeds are to launch in June 2026, and offer full global coverage and service by the end of 2027, he said.

The FCC Space Bureau shot down SpaceX's request that its second-generation satellites operate in the 2 GHz, 1.6/2.4 GHz bands and 2020-2025 MHz band. In an order in Wednesday's Daily Digest, the bureau said the 1.6/2.4 GHz "Big" low earth orbit bands and 2 GHz band aren't available for additional mobile satellite system (MSS) operations and that the 2020-2025 MHz request didn't constitute a comprehensive proposal needed to sustain a satellite application. The bureau also dismissed as moot an EchoStar/Dish Network petition seeking dismissal of the modification application. SpaceX was seen facing an uphill battle to get 2 GHz and 1.6/2.4 GHz spectrum access (see 2402230027). In its order, the bureau said the FCC's "carefully rebalanced" band plan for the 1.6/2/4 GHz bands adopted in 2007 "does not envision an additional [code division multiple access] MSS system, much less a system of 7,500 space stations, operating in this band," as SpaceX proposed. It said opening up the 2 GHz band to additional operators requires first a rulemaking proceeding to determine if additional MSS systems should be authorized for operators in the bands. The bureau also put on public notice SpaceX's petition seeking revision of the agency's licensing and spectrum sharing framework for non-geostationary orbit MSS systems in the 1.6/2.4 GHz bands. Comments are due April 25, replies May 10, in RM-11975, according to the public notice in Daily Digest. It also put on public notice a separate SpaceX petition seeking revision of the 2 GHz MSS sharing plan. Comments there are also due April 25, replies May 10, in RM-11976, according to the PN. At a meeting this week with Space Bureau Chief Julie Kearney, EchoStar argued against SpaceX's 2 GHz petition, according to a filing Wednesday. "The mere action of seeking comment [on the petition] would provide it with undeserved credibility and threaten the certainty that has allowed EchoStar to innovate in this band leading to significant public interest benefits," the company said. EchoStar called it "well established that two widely deployed mobile services cannot share the same frequency band generally and for the 2 GHz band specifically."

SpaceX wants to go lower with its planned 7,500 second-generation satellites that would provide direct-to-device (D2D) service. In an application modification posted Monday, it asked the FCC Space Bureau to add 340-360 km orbital shells as a deployment option. It said those lower orbits "will come at a significant additional cost to SpaceX [but] enhance space sustainability by further reducing collision risk and passive decay time." It said the lower orbits also would make for better spectrum sharing. The D2D application seeks approval for operating at 525 km, 530 km and 535 km altitudes.