The U.S.' $396,353 bill of costs should be rejected entirely because the federal government, unlike the four plaintiff states in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint against Dish Network, didn't provide any supporting documentation for its costs request, Dish Network said in an objection (in Pacer) filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Illinois. It said much of the costs are in categories not recognized by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as recoverable, such as $233,278 seemingly spent on discovery expenses in the TCPA lawsuit brought by the federal government and California, Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio. The court in June issued a $280 million verdict against Dish (see 1706060069). The FTC didn't comment Wednesday.

An executive order or legislation could make black and white the gray regulatory issues around the Outer Space Treaty and NASA's planetary protection policy and how they apply to nontraditional private-sector space operations, space lawyer Laura Montgomery blogged Tuesday. An executive order would be "a perfect vehicle" for ensuring the FCC, FAA and NOAA don't deny private operators space access through treaty provisions that don't apply and aren't self-executing, or Congress could act similarly, she said.

Blockchain technology company Blockstream will start routing bitcoin transactions via satellite, CEO Adam Back blogged Tuesday. He said the service, using a geosynchronous satellite network, will allow free global access to the bitcoin network and is a step to eventual mass adoption: "For Bitcoin to be truly transformative, it must be everywhere, available for everyone."

Pushes to expand the FCC's look at updates to Parts 2 and 25 rules to include earth stations in motion communications with non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellites and broader use of the 10.7-10.95 GHz spectrum band (see 1708010017) don't address compatibility with radio astronomy operations, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) said in a docket 17-95 filing posted Monday. NRAO said 10.68-10.7 GHz is a passive service band, and it's coordinating radio astronomy use of the band with prospective fixed satellite service operators of NGSO constellations wanting to use the adjacent downlink spectrum at 10.7-12.75 GHz. It said compatibility between FSS and radio operations doesn't work when the radio astronomy sites are illuminated by the main beams of satellites using the lowest channel for the downlink spectrum.

SES wants to move its AMC-1 satellite in December to make way for the forthcoming SES-15. In an FCC International Bureau filing Thursday, the company also asked for an extension of AMC-1's license term through June 2021. AMC-1 is at 129.15 degrees west, where SES-15 is to go by late this year or early next, and SES said it wants to relocate AMC-1 to 130.9 degrees. The company said transitioning traffic from a wide-beam satellite to a spot-beam satellite can't be done with collocated satellites as it can be with wide-beam satellites. It said once SES-15 is operational at 129.15 degrees west and traffic is transferred to it, AMC-1 will be available to provide additional Ku-band capacity and to supplement the C-band capacity being provided by AMC-11 at that position.

Dish Network hasn't shown errors in seeking to have a $280 million Telephone Consumer Protection Act verdict amended or altered (see 1708010010), U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough of Springfield, Illinois, said in order (in Pacer) Thursday denying the Dish motion. Myerscough, in a sister order (in Pacer) addressing Dish motions to alter or amend or clarify the injunction order against it and to extend time to comply, modified language of the injunction but otherwise denied the company's motion to alter. The judge said the verdict covers all telemarketing by Dish, including future products, including any for its spectrum holdings, and denied several requests for limits or tweaks to the injunction order terminology or boundaries, though it approved others. The court OK'd the extension. Dish said it "appreciate[s] the clarifications made to the injunction [but] respectfully disagrees with the Court’s denial of the motion to amend the findings of fact and conclusions of law. The amounts awarded in this case radically and unjustly exceed, by orders of magnitude, those found in the settlements in similar actions, notably against DirecTV, Comcast and Caribbean Cruise Lines. DISH is being held responsible for telemarketing activities conducted by independent third-parties, including in circumstances where such third-parties intentionally hid their telemarketing efforts from DISH. We intend to appeal.”

The various non-geostationary satellite constellations being proposed could help bring broadband to rural Alaska, said Alaska Native corporation Arctic Slope Regional in a docket 16-408 filing posted Thursday, urging FCC approval for the constellations' services. It also said the agency shouldn't allow a waiver of the domestic coverage requirement.

Having received final FCC regulatory approval for its low-power mobile broadband plans in the 2483.5-2495 MHz band, Globalstar is ending for now plans for an L-band mobile broadband network. In a docket 13-213 filing posted Tuesday, the company said it was withdrawing its 2012 request for a rulemaking on terrestrial wireless operations in the 1610-1617.775 MHz band. The International Bureau on Tuesday approved a modification of Globalstar's satellite authorization to include a terrestrial low-power ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) network using mobile satellite service spectrum. The approval said Globalstar's ATC operations in the S-band are subject to the company's 2008 agreement with NTIA on out-of-band emissions into the 1559-1610 MHz band -- an issue raised by GPS Innovation Alliance (see 1706260022). Globalstar's 2012 petition for rulemaking proposed using 2483.5-2495 MHz for a terrestrial wireless service and a longer-term plan to use of spectrum in the 1.6 GHz/2.4 GHz band for an LTE-based mobile broadband network. Globalstar General Counsel Barbee Ponder told us that having received the authority for its short-term plan -- the FCC in December OK'd terrestrial use of the 2473-2495 MHz band for low-power mobile broadband use (see 1612230060) -- the company "is going to focus on that," particularly on getting international regulatory approvals for its terrestrial broadband plans. Ponder said Globalstar has applications pending in various countries and could get some international approvals this year. FCC bureau approval "marks the end of the FCC regulatory process to obtain terrestrial authority over our S-band spectrum and the beginning of a new range of innovative wireless services," CEO Jay Monroe said: It's working with chipset and infrastructure providers "to put this spectrum to more intensive use."

CTIA's proposed high-frequency band road map (see 1707140055) would unjustifiably and unsustainably do away with the FCC's long-held technology-neutral stance by framing 5G as a terrestrial wireless-only neighborhood, said the Satellite Industry Association in a docket 14-177 filing posted Monday. SIA said a variety of satellite systems planned for bands above 37 GHz will let operators be part of the 5G biosphere, and CTIA's push for identifying bands solely for terrestrial wireless would harm competition and innovation among and between tech platforms. SIA said the 40 and 48 GHz bands need to be maintained as primary for core satellite operations, though terrestrial operations could use them on a secondary, noninterference basis, and there's "significant potential" for sharing the 24 GHz, 47 GHz and 50 GHz satellite uplink and downlink bands with terrestrial services. SIA said the CTIA road map would turn over to terrestrial wireless a variety of bands used by satellite, such as the 29 GHz band -- used by local multipoint distribution service stations and non-geostationary orbit satellite service feeder links. CTIA said Tuesday its road map "offers policymakers a balanced path to making much needed spectrum available for 5G services, while also providing satellite operators an opportunity to access high band spectrum.”

The preliminary design review for NASA's Restore-L mission to provide low earth orbit satellite servicing is done, SSL said in a news release Tuesday. Launch of the robotic vehicle, which will refuel an orbiting satellite, should be in 2020, it said. The next step is the detailed design phase, SSL said.