The FCC should approve Ligado's LTE proposal once the agency wraps up receiving comments on the satellite company's proposed operational restrictions and license modifications aimed at tackling interference with GPS, Technology Policy Institute President Thomas Lenard said in a filing Thursday in docket 12-340. While more flexibly licensed spectrum for mobile broadband was a key part of the FCC's 2010 National Broadband Plan, "the most available spectrum -- indeed, the only significant block of spectrum that is already licensed but not deployed -- is the [mobile satellite service] spectrum licensed to Ligado," Lenard said. Approving the license modification, plus allocating 1675-1680 MHz for terrestrial mobile use on a shared basis with federal users, would free up 40 megahertz -- more than half the AWS 3 spectrum, which yielded $45 billion in auction revenue, Lenard said. He said that while the FCC and White House have been trying to move government spectrum into the commercial sector, "failure to approve the current proposed license modifications would effectively achieve the opposite result by transferring a large block of spectrum from the commercial sector back to the government." In a separate filing Thursday in the docket, GPS company NovAtel raised a number of technical questions with the Roberson & Associates study Ligado has pointed to as proof the modified LTE proposal wouldn't pose a GPS interference threat (see 1605110024). NovAtel said it was "particularly concerned" that Ligado had moved away from a 1 dB rise in carrier-to-noise ratio as the standard for tolerance interference, saying it disagreed with Roberson's finding that there isn't a meaningful correlation between a 1 dB change and GPS performance and that interference must not exceed that 1 dB limit. It also questioned the lack of testing of other GPS L-band receivers and of GPS signal acquisition in the presence of LTE signals, only maintenance. Ligado didn't comment Friday.

Iridium told front office and other FCC International Bureau officials of interference concerns if the satellite company's "unique" low-earth, nongeostationary orbit network shares spectrum with what it called "ubiquitously deployed terrestrial services." Because of Iridium's Next network's uses, which include defense and public safety, "degradations in service caused by terrestrial interference could produce unusually catastrophic results," the company said in a filing Wednesday in docket 14-177. Satellite companies have been telling the commission of interference concerns as the agency's spectrum frontiers proceeding looks at using the 28 GHz band for sharing (see 1605130037), and Iridium said Next uses a higher non-adjacent frequency, in the 29 GHz band. Company representatives told International Bureau Chief Engineer Robert Nelson, Satellite Division Chief Jose Albuquerque and another bureau official that Iridium backs the FCC "determination that the bandwidth available in the 29.1-29.25 GHz band simply does not meet the requirements for terrestrial 5G networks." The agency should "continue to focus on more viable spectrum for flexible use services," Iridium said. Carrier interests including Verizon have said they back commission efforts to find a way for mobile and satellite to coexist in the 28 GHz band.

ViaSat will use capacity on SES-5 at 5 degrees east to broadcast its first Ultra HD channel in four Nordic markets, SES said in a Friday announcement. The channel, to be called ViaSat Ultra HD, will be launched after the summer in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, SES said. ViaSat customers with Ultra HD TVs and with ViaSat’s new Ultra HD set-tops to debut this summer will able to receive live Champions League soccer matches and other content, it said. The addition of ViaSat Ultra HD will bring to 24 the global number of SES-backed Ultra HD channels, or 46 percent of all channels broadcast in Ultra HD via satellite worldwide, SES said. “With more and more Ultra HD channels expected in the future, satellite will remain the optimal infrastructure to deliver this new and substantially improved viewing experience.”

Without comment, a 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied former LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja's petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc on the company's Chapter 11 reorganization (see 1604070012), said an order (in Pacer) Tuesday. Ahuja's counsel, Bijan Amini of Storch Amini, told us Thursday that he intends to file a petition with the Supreme Court. Ahuja -- a major shareholder in the company now known as Ligado -- challenged the reorganization plan, arguing it wasn't fair because it overpaid some senior creditors with undervalued equity in the reorganized company.

Any sharing of the 28 GHz band between satellite and 5G uses needs to include FCC rules protecting satellites from aggregate interference from terrestrial transmitters, several satellite industry representatives told FCC officials in a meeting Monday, according to an ex parte filing Tuesday in docket 14-177. According to a presentation from the filing, "relatively limited numbers" of mobile terrestrial upper microwave flexible use (UMFU) deployments at FCC-proposed power levels "could severely disrupt satellites." The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) said it was working with terrestrial providers on technical parameters to understand how to mitigate that interference. The satellite industry representatives also told FCC officials, including International Bureau Satellite Division Chief Jose Albuquerque, that UMFU/fixed satellite service earth stations need co-primary status in the 37-39 GHz bands, while earth stations should be individually authorized in the 28 GHz band. The FCC also should tackle aggregate interference to satellite systems in its technical rules. The meeting included industry representatives from AT&T Entertainment Group, Boeing, EchoStar, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Iridium, Kymeta, Lockheed Martin, OneWeb, O3b, SIA, SES and ViaSat.

Its tests of different GPS devices show manufacturers can build products that coexist with Ligado's LTE plans, Ligado said in a submission to be filed Wednesday in FCC docket 11-109. The filing was a final result of Ligado-commissioned testing of LTE/GPS compatibility, with the company echoing what it said early this year when it filed preliminary test results (see 1602250032): that consumer GPS devices won't be adversely affected by Ligado's LTE operations within power limits agreed to by GPS companies Deere, Garmin and Trimble (see 1602040015). Ligado also said the Roberson & Associates testing proves many industrial-use GPS device designs let them coexist with Ligado LTE, while others either won't be used near network facilities or can be cheaply retrofitted in advance. Ligado said the 12 consumer devices it tested kept baseline GPS position accuracy when in presence of Ligado operations and even with severely underpowered GPS signals only one showed any LTE interference. Tablet and smartphone testing showed no effects to their GPS operations, it said. The tests of industrial devices showed one manufacturer's devices were affected, though replacing the stock antenna with a filtered antenna solved the issue, Ligado said. The company also said another manufacturer's devices were affected by LTE operations in the 1526-1536 MHz band, but Federal Aviation Administration requirements likely will include power restrictions that would resolve that issue.

Intelsat 31 has a new launch date scheduled. In an FCC International Bureau filing Tuesday, Intelsat said the launch is scheduled for May 31 -- instead of May 28, as it previously had told the bureau (see 1604070004). No reason was given for the change, and that previous application was withdrawn Monday. In its application for special temporary authority to drift the satellite to its permanent home at 95.05 degrees west for in-orbit testing, Intelsat also said the drift would be from 132 degrees west, instead of from 76.5 degrees west, as it previously told the agency.

Warning that the $610,560 in damages a court ordered it to pay DirecTV would put it out of business, Exclaim Marketing is asking for a stay of enforcement until its appeal of those damages is finally decided, it said in a motion (in Pacer) Tuesday in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The direct broadcast satellite marketing firm sued DirecTV in 2015, alleging DirecTV actively sought to interfere in Exclaim's business relationships with independent satellite dealers, with the court ultimately overturning the jury's verdict in Exclaim's favor and awarding DirecTV its trademark infringement counterclaim. In its appellate motion, Exclaim said it also filed a motion to stay enforcement with the U.S. District Court in New Bern, North Carolina, because enforcement of the award would cause "irreparable" harm. It also said it believes it can show it likely will prevail on appeal because DirecTV didn't show sufficient evidence to support the award, the stay wouldn't harm DirecTV and the public interest wouldn't favor Exclaim's end while issues still are being litigated -- all of which satisfy the Hilton v. Braunskill test for granting a stay, it said. DirecTV didn't comment Wednesday.

African telco Liquid Telecom signed a multiyear deal with Eutelsat for multiple transponders on its Eutelsat 7B satellite to help provide direct-to-home services across the continent and connect enterprise customers, Eutelsat said in a news release Tuesday. Scott Mumford, Liquid Telecom group managing executive-satellite and VSAT, said broadcast "still plays a massive part in the satellite business and we are extremely pleased to have secured this important contract, which will allow the launch of a new large scale broadcast offering.”

As part of SES's plans to buy a majority of O3b, the satellite companies are asking the FCC International Bureau to approve the transfer of control, in a series of filings Monday (see here, here, here and here). SES owns slightly more than 49 percent of O3b and plans to buy another 3,431 shares, giving it a 50.5 percent stake, the companies said, saying SES also will have an option to buy the remaining shares of O3b, though if it fails to do so by Sept. 30, 2017, O3b's other shareholders can require SES to buy their shares. After the close, SES will designate eight of the 14 O3b board members, they said. The acquisition will help boost SES's competitive standing by giving it a wider portfolio, while O3b customers "will benefit from the additional services and coverage" that comes with being part of SES, including access to that company's financial assets, technical expertise and marketing resources, they said. SES said it expects to close on the O3b deal in the second half of 2016.