Facing pushback from terrestrial interests about their proposed tiered population limit approach to the 28 GHz, 37 GHz and 39 GHz bands (see 1705050056 and 1704210042), satellite broadband companies argued their tiered proposal wouldn't significantly affect upper microwave flexible use systems, in a filing posted Friday in docket 14-177. It would give earth station operators more flexibility to operate in rural areas that UMFUS operators likely wouldn't serve, the satellite interests said. The filing included multiple maps comparing the area covered by earth stations under current population limits with areas that would be covered under the tiered population approach they're backing. Populations covered in the examples would go up substantially, while the area where UMFUS would potentially see interference is "miniscule," the satellite broadband operators said. Behind the filing were Boeing, EchoStar, Intelsat, Inmarsat, O3b, SES and OneWeb. Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition co-counsel Mitchell Lazarus of Fletcher Heald said Monday the FWCC doesn't oppose a tiered approach, but the tiers as suggested by the satellite operators would cause interference to UMFUS in each of the examples the satellite operators submitted. FWCC said there's no assurance the examples are representative.

SES and O3b are making the eighth-floor rounds to push proposed changes to FCC Part 2 and Part 25 rules. The companies in a docket 16-408 filing posted Friday recapped a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly where they made a case similar to one they did in ex parte meetings days earlier with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn (see 1706060021).

AsiaSat, Eutelsat, Inmarsat, Intelsat and SES agreed on criteria for minimum satellite ground station antenna performance, Global VSAT Forum said in a news release Thursday. It said the aim is an industrywide qualification framework via a minimum testing regime for mobile communications products. It said the framework is expected to address qualification of new antenna products introduced after Sept. 1, 2018, and will complement existing FCC, ITU and European Telecommunications Standards Institute standards.

Chairman Ajit Pai yet again slammed the FCC's Open-market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecom (Orbit) Act reporting to Congtess requirement as the agency issued its 18th annual status report on the privatization status of Inmarsat, Intelsat and New Skies Thursday. The agency received no outside comments. "There's no need to reinvent the wheel," Pai said in a short statement, repeating his oft-made argument (see 1606140039) that the reports outlived their usefulness. The latest report said it confirms past reports' findings that Intelsat and Inmarsat have successfully transitioned to privatized operations.

Correction: The FCC International Bureau approval Atlas Space Operation seeks is to do telemetry, tracking and command support for another company's low earth orbit satellite (see 1705300003).

SES DTH Brasil wants to expand the direct-to-home (DTH) service reach of its SES-14 satellite. In an FCC International Bureau petition to modify its U.S. market access authority filed Tuesday, the company said SES-14 is scheduled to launch in Q1, and it asked for authority to serve additional DTH markets in Europe and Africa using its Ku-band capacity beyond the services the agency authorized earlier this year in the U.S., and between the U.S. and various European and western hemisphere nations. The company also asked for U.S. market access for a NASA-hosted payload, Global-Scale Observations of the Limb and Disk, for imaging of the planet's upper atmosphere.

A new in-line event trigger should be between 2 and 5 degrees, and band segmentation should be the last recourse for dealing with such events, SES and O3b officials told aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, according to a docket 16-408 filing posted Monday. SES and O3b staff said geostationary operations shouldn't be co-primary with non-geostationary satellite orbit systems in 18.8-19.3 GHz and 28.6-29.1 GHz bands since that's the only spectrum where NGSO systems have primary status and NGSO operators relied on that when developing business plans and systems. The companies backed NGSO milestone rules that would require 33 percent of an authorized constellation be launched within six years of license grant, and 75 percent within nine years. They recommended that after milestones are satisfied, licensees should be required to keep at least 75 percent of their authorized constellation in orbit, with at least one operational satellite in each authorized orbital plane, or face FCC punitive actions.

Any Canadian-licensed commercial non-geostationary orbit broadcasting satellite service and fixed satellite service must be capable of providing uninterrupted, 24/7 service anywhere in Canada, said Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada in an order Monday updating NGSO licensing rules. It said it will continue to require foreign-licensed NGSO systems seeking approval to operate in Canada to complete coordination with Canadian networks that have date priority, and coordination will be an ongoing condition of the approval to operate in Canada. It won't limit the number of licenses issued per frequency band for any NGSO systems. U.S. companies had commented on the proposed licensing rules changes (see 1704240026).

The EchoStar XXI communications satellite is scheduled to launch Thursday from Kazakhstan, ILS Proton said in an advisory Friday. The S-band satellite is intended to provide mobile connectivity in Europe and will be at 10.25 degree east, it said.

AT&T reached tentative agreement with 17,000 wireline and DirecTV union workers in California and Nevada, said the company and the Communications Workers of America. “The agreement will be submitted to the union’s membership for a ratification vote in coming days,” AT&T said in a Friday news release. CWA said the proposed four-year agreement includes pay raises, increased job security, retirement benefits and affordable healthcare. The proposed contract is the first for the DirecTV workers. CWA is scheduling meetings to explain the contract, it said. The ratification vote will occur by mail, with results to be counted July 6, a CWA spokeswoman emailed Monday. Negotiations continue between AT&T and wireless workers from 36 states, AT&T and CWA spokespeople said. The wireless, wireline and DirecTV workers together went on a three-day strike last month (see 1705220028).