AT&T and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers reached a pair of tentative agreements covering nearly 3,000 IBEW-represented workers in 14 states picked up when AT&T bought DirecTV in 2015, the telco said in a news release Tuesday. One agreement covers more than 1,600 workers in AT&T's field services group, and the other 1,300 call center workers in Boise, Idaho, and Missoula, Montana, the company said. The tentative contracts cover such issues as wages, healthcare, pensions and work rules and will go to the union's membership for a vote in coming days, it said.

Iridium's critiques of Ligado's planned LTE network (see 1607070010 and 1606220041) are full of holes, Ligado executives including Chief Legal Officer Valerie Green told FCC International Bureau officials including Satellite Division head Jose Albuquerque in a meeting recapped in an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 11-109. Ligado said there has been no technical analysis to substantiate Iridium's claims and it hasn't made a "clear 'ask' ... regarding a solution." Ligado also said the link budget margin Iridium already employs would protect from out-of-band emissions, and "millions" of authorized mobile satellite service uplinks could operate in neighboring bands under higher OOBE and in-band power levels than Ligado's 0.2-watt terminals. Iridium didn't comment.

Anything that could jeopardize the constant transmission of data that Seattle Public Utilities uses in operating the dams and reservoirs providing water to the Seattle area -- including Ligado's plans for the 1675-1680 MHz band in its terrestrial LTE network -- needs to be halted, SPU said in an FCC filing posted Monday in RM-11681. Since simple filtering won't work to mitigate interference from a strong commercial transmitter operating alongside a data collection system satellite downlink signal, the FCC needs to delay Ligado approval unless there are adequate protection zones around U.S. Geological Survey-related sites, SPU said. In a statement, Ligado said it's "eager to learn about the many ways in which the data currently distributed by [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] is used, and we are encouraged that stakeholders are taking the time to participate in the FCC proceeding on this matter. We are committed to protecting NOAA’s existing uses of the band and to ensuring continued access to and delivery of this important weather data.”

The FCC International Bureau set an Aug. 15 deadline for comments or petitions to deny for OneWeb's proposed 720-satellite constellation, plus a Nov. 15 deadline for applications and petitions for declaratory ruling on similar non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite operations in the same frequency bands, it said in a public notice Friday. OneWeb applied to operate in the 10.7-12.7 GHz, 14-14.5 GHz, 17.8-18.6 GHz, 18.8-19.3 GHz, 27.5-29.1 GHz and 29.5-30 GHz bands, the IB said. It said processing round applications filed by Nov. 15 will be considered together with the OneWeb petition, and subsequent requests may not be entitled to shared use of the spectrum. It said any applicants and petitioners that file by the cut-off date will have an opportunity to amend their requests to conform to any subsequent requirements or policies that are adopted concerning NGSO-like satellite operations in that spectrum. The PN and processing round were expected, as is a similar one regarding Boeing's planned constellation of roughly 2,900 satellites (see 1607110043). Responses to comments and oppositions about OneWeb are due Aug. 25, replies to oppositions Sept. 1.

Ligado is seeking a three-week extension on the deadline for reply comments in the public notice issued April 22 on its terrestrial LTE plans (see 1604250019). Dozens of initial comments were in FCC RM-11681 June 21, and many of them hadn't filed before, Ligado said in a motion posted there Thursday. More time would aid in rulemaking and in exploring alternative means for delivering National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration data, the company said. It said a delay from July 21 to Aug. 11 also would help because the American Meteorological Society has a meeting scheduled the week of July 17.

Dish Network began selling a $30 voice remote control for its Hopper 3 and 4K Joey set-top boxes Thursday. The remote can be a universal remote for two infrared devices, said the company.

Inmarsat and VT iDirect formed an R&D partnership to develop prototypes and proofs of concept for next-generation satellite communications technologies, the companies said Wednesday. The R&D project team will be based at Inmarsat HQ in London, that company said in a news release. The companies worked together before to develop the Inmarsat Global Xpress program, it said. The team plans to work on integrating satcom and terrestrial networks, boosting waveform performance and reducing the size of satcom terminals while increasing their power, Inmarsat said.

Data services firm Neustar is expanding into TV advertising targeting and measurement, in a deal with Dish Network's ad sales arm, Dish Media Sales, said a news release Tuesday. The companies said the partnership will let marketers use Neustar consumer data for better targeting of Dish's nearly 8 million addressable U.S. TV households.

Any FCC spectrum frontiers order should let ViaSat finish its ViaSat-2 and ViaSat-3 ground networks as planned and on a protected basis and the agency should protect ViaSat-2 and ViaSat-3 satellites from aggregate mobile wireless interference, ViaSat CEO Mark Dankberg told Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in a phone conversation, said an ex parte filing Monday in docket 14-177. ViaSat said Dankberg said "continued and meaningful access to the 28 GHz band" is needed for residential, connected car and in-flight broadband connectivity, and pushed for a "reasonable ability" for deployment of 28 GHz and 37/39 GHz gateway-type earth stations and for deployment of satellite broadband user terminals on a secondary, non-interference basis. A separate ex parte filing in the docket Monday said the company's outside counsel discussed aggregate interference issues with Commissioner Mike O'Rielly aide Erin McGrath.

Draft FCC proposed limits on satellite earth stations operating in the 28 GHz band under its spectrum frontiers NPRM could have unintended consequences, SES officials including Petra Vorwig, senior legal and regulatory counsel, told staffers for Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mignon Clyburn, said an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 14-177. It said the NPRM -- which would propose to limit the satellite industry to one earth station per county -- would let the location be set by the first applicant in the county and would ban earth stations where the 200-meter surrounding radius overlaps with 0.1 percent of the county's population. Such an approach might mean more earth stations heading to higher-population areas, where it's easier to map out that 0.1 percent threshold, SES said, saying the 200-meter radius is too small to accommodate more than one earth station. The company also voiced concerns that grandfathering only 28 GHz earth stations licensed before July 14 would put its investments in its SES-15 satellite -- scheduled for a Q2 launch -- "at significant risk," and grandfathering status should be extended to earth stations applied for before July 14, or at least to earth stations with applications accepted for filing by then.