Dish Network is now a subsidiary of EchoStar. Announced in August (see 2308080009) the combination was completed Sunday, EchoStar said Tuesday in an SEC filing. Under the transaction, holders of Dish stock received EchoStar stock.

SpaceX's accomplishments in 2023 are "what increasing domination of the world launch market looks like," the National Space Society blogged Monday. Those accomplishments include 96 Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy flights versus 61 in 2022, increasing flight cadence with 10 launches in November, and 1,985 Starlink satellites launched on 63 flights, NSS said. 2023 saw a total of 107 U.S. launches, with SpaceX responsible for 92% of them, up from 78% in 2022, it said. By comparison, China launched 62 times in 2023, NSS said. The society said SpaceX's rideshare launches have "taken a big bite out of the small launch providers" market. United Launch Alliance's Vulcan, Blue Origin's New Glenn and ArianeGroup's Ariane-6, once flying regularly, will likely influence SpaceX's launch manifest, yet Falcon 9 launches will continue to show steadily increasing metrics for another year or two, the report predicts. SpaceX's 2024 manifest "is stuffed," with 144 launches projected, the society said.

Introducing a secondary nonfederal allocation in 7190-7235 MHz could render the band unusable for future nonfederal operations absent adequate protections, Lockheed Martin said in a filing posted Friday in docket 23-120. While a nonfederal upload space research service allocation for lunar communications needs is necessary, that allocation should be on a primary basis, it said. That would improve the odds that U.S. space licensees used the band, it added. If the 7190-7235 MHz band is not used for communicating with deep space missions, the FCC and NTIA should start thinking about what band would be used for such needs, it said.

SpaceX's acknowledging it didn't assess whether its supplemental coverage from space service in the 2 GHz band will interfere with Dish Network operations (see 2312120057) shows SpaceX's application runs counter to FCC rules, as such an assessment is required, Dish told the FCC Space Bureau in a letter Thursday. SpaceX could have conducted an interference analysis based on information available about Dish's operations but "did not, and that fact ends the charade," Dish said. SpaceX didn't comment Friday.

The FCC's decision to allow SpaceX to conduct supplemental coverage space testing (see 2312050029) goes "beyond the scope of reasonable, limited, and transparent" testing requirements applied to SCS operators Lynk and AST SpaceMobile, Lynk representatives told members of the offices of Commissioners Anna Gomez, Nathan Simington and Brendan Carr, said a filing Friday in docket 23-65. Lynk said numerous international regulators are changing and implementing applicable rules so jurisdictions can accommodate SCS services, and that international regulators "are looking to the FCC for global leadership on how to address novel SCS services." It said in many cases they are likely to replicate FCC policy. It said SCS applications proposing to use terrestrial bands shouldn't be added as a primary use to the Table of Frequencies and that processing rounds for such terrestrial spectrum wouldn't be necessary since the SCS service would be authorized on a non-protected, noninterference basis.

The FCC has no objection to Ligado's requested amendment to its voting proxy agreement in response to SoftBank selling its majority stake in Fortress Investment Group, which has a majority stake in the satellite operator, the Office of International Affairs said in docket 15-126 Friday.

SpaceX is "pretty happy" with the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference action on higher power levels for non-geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) satellites, David Goldman, vice president-space policy, said Wednesday at a Broadband Breakfast event. WRC-23 wrapped up last week in Dubai (see 2312150012). Current ITU equivalent power flux density restraints are "very, very constraining for next-generation systems," he said. Higher power levels for NGSOs would be "a force multiplier," allowing them to serve more customers while remaining below the noise floor for geostationary orbit satellite systems, he said. While there was "lively debate" about higher power levels, including concerns from some nations that rely on GSOs, the outcome -- ITU asking for studies ahead of WRC-27, leaving the door open to updating rules then -- is a big positive, he said. Asked about the FCC's net neutrality proceeding, Kalpak Gude, domestic regulatory affairs head for Amazon's Kuiper, said the company is a net neutrality supporter and operating within the agency's proposed rules should not pose a problem. Gude and SpaceX's Goldman expressed concerns that FCC rules must recognize legitimate network management capabilities for NGSOs. While NTIA's broadband equity, access and deployment program is not technology neutral, with its thumb on the scale in favor of fiber, the agency has indicated NGSO systems can participate and some states are taking a close look at that, Goldman said. He said BEAD cannot reach 100% coverage without a satellite component. He said Starlink qualifies for and will participate in the affordable connectivity program. SpaceX's Starlink has more than 2 million subscribers globally and is operating in more than 80 nations, with Africa its fastest-growing region, he said. Goldman said Starlink has worked through its U.S. backlog and service kits including the antenna are sent within a couple of days of someone signing up online. He said SpaceX will "come close" to hitting its goal of 100 launches this year. Gude said Amazon is "incredibly thrilled" with test results of its two experimental Kuipers in orbit. He said launch of the constellation should start "around the second quarter [of 2024] or so," adding commercial Kuiper service will start in late 2024, but more broad delivery will ramp up in the subsequent couple of years.

Amazon and Viasat are at odds over conditions on Viasat's pending satellite applications. Viasat last month told the FCC its earth stations' use of the 18.8-19.3 GHz and 28.6-29.1 GHz band segments pose no interference threat to non-geostationary orbit operations there. It added there's no need for conditions requiring coordination or technical demonstrations. Amazon told the FCC Space Bureau Tuesday the examples Viasat lists to bolster that argument involved relatively minor modifications of existing authorizations. It urged agency approval of Viasat's pending applications be conditioned on Viasat entering into a coordination agreement with relevant NGSO fixed satellite service operators and showing how it will protect relevant NGSO FSS systems.

Satellite operator Lynk Global will combine with Slam Corp., a special purpose acquisition company established by former MLB star Alex Rodriguez and Antara Capital founder Himanshu Gulati, Slam told the SEC Monday. The combined company's stock would be listed on NASDAQ, it said. Slam said its shareholders will vote Friday on setting a Dec. 25, 2024, deadline for closing the transaction.

Amazon and SpaceX are raising red flags over Telesat's request for more time to meet milestone deadlines for its Lightspeed low earth orbit constellation (see 2310270002). An extended or waived milestone deadline would undermine the FCC's processing round framework "and frustrate the purpose of its buildout milestones," Amazon said Monday. It said the alternative of moving Telesat's first-round surety bond to its second-round system would help promote competition and innovation from a new non-geostationary orbit operator and further the purpose of the commission's surety bond requirements. The FCC "must guard against COVID-related arguments becoming a get-out-of-jail-free card for any operator that fails to make the required level of progress on deploying and operating its authorized system," SpaceX said. It said the agency should "scrutinize very carefully, and bring a healthy skepticism to, an operator’s milestone extension requests where they are not supported by contemporaneous public statements warning of a COVID-related delay," especially when other operators met their deployment obligations at the same time.