Intelsat wants to relocate its Intelsat 901 satellite from 18 degrees west to 29.5 degrees west once Intelsat 37e is launched and traffic is transferred to it. In an FCC International Bureau filing Thursday, it said 901 is expected to arrive at its new orbital slot, where it will collocate with Intelsat 9, in January. Intelsat 701 operated at 29.5 degrees west until it was prematurely deorbited in May, it said.

Non-geostationary orbit satellite interests are pushing the FCC to align rules with the ITU on NGSOs. At least, the FCC should make clear rules are limited to U.S. operations and such licensed systems providing service outside the country need to operate consistent with international regulations, EchoStar told Intentional Bureau staff, said a docket 16-408 filing posted Thursday. Telesat Canada, in a filing posted Wednesday, recapped meetings CEO Dan Goldberg had warning the FCC's proposed in-line event rule could result in in-line events being triggered even without actual interference. The proposal assumes all satellites in a constellation cover visible Earth and that coverage of satellites in different systems completely overlap, but none of the proposed NGSO constellations works that way, the company said. It said real-time access to data about co-frequency operators is needed for spectrum sharing only in situations when interference actually would arise. Telesat Canada said that rather than "an illusory 'fail safe' " rule, the FCC instead should opt for enforcing requirements to coordinate in good faith under ITU's coordination framework. The company said it made presentations to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, and aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Brendan Carr and to International Bureau staff. EchoStar said it also discussed granting co-primary status to geostationary fixed satellite service operations in the 18.8-19.3 GHz and 28.6-29.1 GHz bands, pointing to the ITU allowing co-primary use of those bands by GSO and NGSO systems. It pushed for allowing GSO and NGSO operations in the 19.3-19.4 GHz, 19.6-19.7 GHz and 29.3-29.5 GHz bands, with GSO systems on a primary basis and NGSO systems on an unprotected, non-interference basis.

Intelsat's 37e satellite, its fifth high-throughput EpicNG constellation satellite, is scheduled to launch Tuesday on an Ariane 5 rocket from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana, the company said Wednesday. The C-, Ka- and Ku-band satellite will serve broadband, mobility and government customers in the Americas, Africa and Europe, it said.

Globalstar will set up an earth station at the University of Mississippi's Oxford campus for use in research, development and testing of communications technology, the company said Wednesday.

Dish Network is unlikely to be able to fix its de facto control issue of designated entities SNR and Northstar (see 1708290027), but that's financially immaterial, Wells Fargo's Marci Ryvicker emailed investors Wednesday. Dish at most will pay an $860 million penalty and can participate in any re-auction of the AWS-3 spectrum. She said it's unlikely Dish will face a penalty, since the spectrum in question is in high-demand markets like New York, Chicago and Boston, meaning a re-auction would be highly competitive so there probably wouldn't be a shortfall to be made up between the winning re-auction bid and SNR/Northstar's $3.4 billion bid in the initial AWS-3 auction. Such re-auction, if it happens, likely would be next year, the analyst said. Meanwhile, if Dish and the DEs do somehow satisfy the FCC, they would be entitled to $3.4 billion worth of spectrum relinquished to the FCC for no additional cash outlay, she said. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Tuesday said the FCC and DEs should try to negotiate a solution to Dish's de facto control of the DEs.

Globalstar's mobile satellite services products and services will be available in Japan, after the nation's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications adopted radio regulations that allow the company to operate as an MSS provider there, Globalstar said Tuesday.

Law students interested in specializing in space law should start with a course in administrative law because it is vital to understand the obligations and constraints administrative law puts on regulators, space lawyer Laura Montgomery blogged Monday. She also said courses on federal procurement regulation and on international law could be useful. For those out of school, she recommended becoming active with a space advocacy group or trade advocacy group such as the Satellite Industry Association or Space Transportation Association. And she said that working in the regulatory field, even if not directly tied to space law, can be a useful grounding.

SES is swapping its launches and launchers of its SES-12 and SES-14 satellites. SES said Monday both are scheduled for Q1 2018 launches, but moving the SES-14 first, and to Arianespace, lets the company replace its NSS-806 satellite more quickly. SES-12 will be launched on SpaceX. Both satellites will employ electric propulsion for orbit raising and will go into service -- SES-14 at 47.5 degrees west, SES-12 at 95 degrees east -- four to six months after launch, it said.

The FCC's final rule waiving carrier identification compliance for satellite news trucks and other temporary fixed earth stations will be effective Sept. 25, said a notice in Friday's Federal Register. Commissioners approved the order before their August meeting (see 1707310047).

Without waiver of the domestic coverage requirement, providing broadband service to the Arctic areas of the U.S., primarily Alaska, won't happen, Space Norway said in a docket 16-408 filing Friday. The letter was in response to Arctic Slope Regional Corp. (ASRC) earlier this month urging the FCC not to waive domestic coverage requirement for the various non-geostationary satellite constellations being proposed, including Space Norway's (see 1708100039). Space Norway said the domestic coverage requirement might not be appropriate for a system specifically intended for an Arctic service, and providing continual fixed satellite service throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands isn't feasible in its Arctic satellite broadband mission design. ASRC didn't comment.