SES expects to launch its SES-9 satellite Feb. 24 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, it said in a news release Monday. The satellite -- to orbit at 108.2 degrees east and add to the company's video and data connectivity capabilities in Asia -- is expected to go into operation in Q3, SES said.

Trimble formally signed onto LightSquared's proposal that LightSquared will give up any terrestrial plans for 1545-1555 MHz as part of a means to ending objections to the proposed LightSquared L-band terrestrial broadband service. In a filing posted Thursday in docket 12-340, LightSquared said it and Trimble signed an agreement that mirrors similar agreements inked with Deere and Garmin last year that also had LightSquared ending its 2013 legal claims against them (see 1512180020). "It completes the picture," LightSquared counsel Gerard Waldron of Covington & Burling told us. "We can say we have final settlement agreements with the largest GPS companies, the end of litigation is upon us, these disputes have been solved." Unlike past agreements with Deere and Garmin, Waldron said, the Trimble agreement also has it and LightSquared telling the Transportation Department there's no need for the agency to test upper spectrum compatibility issues as part of the agency's pending GPS/LTE compatibility study, given the technical limits the satellite company has agreed to with the three GPS companies. Under the Trimble agreement, LightSquared said it will seek dismissal with prejudice of its suit against Trimble and the U.S. GPS Industry Council. LightSquared also agreed through January 2020 to keep records of base station activations involving use of 1627.5 MHz and higher and allow Trimble access to those records as a means of supporting resolution of any interference issues. The agreement also said Trimble, like Deere and Garmin, doesn't object to LightSquared's deployment of its terrestrial network under the technical specifications laid out in the agreements -- those specifications including foregoing terrestrial use of the 1545-1555 band. It also said it echoes LightSquared's call for the FCC to put out a public notice seeking comment on the GPS company agreements (see 1512310016). Trimble didn't comment. In a statement, LightSquared said the agreement "not only addresses pending policy issues related to new LightSquared's spectrum but also supports a regulatory path forward." LightSquared declined to comment on the status of its own commissioned study by Roberson and Associates of possible interference between its broadband uplink and downlink signals and neighboring spectrum GPS signals.

Dish Network and EchoStar are asking for FCC International Bureau approval to do in-orbit testing (IOT) of EchoStar 18, due to launch in May. In IB applications Tuesday (see here and here), they said the 60-day IOT will take place while the satellite is at 137.75 degrees west. After IOT, they said, EchoStar 18 will relocate to its assigned nominal orbital location of 110 degrees west.

As Intelsat 16's drift to 58.1 degrees west is underway (see 1601280010), Intelsat is asking for FCC International Bureau approval for the satellite to operate there permanently. In an IB filing Monday, Intelsat said Intelsat 16 would colocate nominally with Intelsat 21, though it would include the 10700-11450 MHz, 12750-13250 MHz and 13750-14000 MHz bands not used by Intelsat 21.

Eutelsat's Eutelsat 9B satellite is in geosynchronous transfer orbit following its launch and should be at its permanent home at 9 degrees east by March, Eutelsat said in a news release Saturday. The satellite will take over broadcasting more than 350 TV channels currently done at that position by Eutelsat 9A, and provide expansion capacity for new services and be part of the European Data Relay System, it said. Eutelsat will continue to provide commercial service from a different orbital location, it said.

Dish Network's Hopper 3 home DVR system is commercially available to subscribers, the company said in a news release Monday. Dish announced its Hopper 3 at CES last month (see 1601060011) and said it would launch the Netflix app for Hopper 3 and integrate Netflix results into its universal search feature "in the coming weeks.”

A federal court won't rule on a class certification motion in a lawsuit against Dish Network until after the Supreme Court rules in a separate, related case before it. U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield in Manhattan, in an order filed Thursday in Ernst et al. v. Dish and Sterling Infosystems, upheld a Dish motion for a stay. She said the Supreme Court's forthcoming decision in Spokeo v. Robbins will likely clarify issues about who has Article III standing in the case, and similar questions are at play in the Dish suit. The plaintiffs opposed the stay, saying the Dish suit is substantially factually different from the Spokeo suit. But Schofield said "while it is possible that the Supreme Court will decide Spokeo in a way that supports Plaintiff's position or does not impact this case, the [Spokeo] question ... is broad enough to suggest that the decision will shed light on the contours of Article III standing in the [Fair Credit Reporting Act] context." The 2012 suit alleges Dish and background check company Sterling violate the federal FCRA in their use of credit reports to do background checks on prospective employees or subcontractors (see 1512160017). The Spokeo case also deals with FCRA violation claims.

Intelsat 29e, the first satellite in Intelsat's planned EpicNG high throughput constellation, launched Wednesday, the company said in a news release. Intelsat 29e took off from French Guiana on an Ariane 5 vehicle, and will operate at 310 degrees east, where it will replace Intelsat 1R, Intelsat said. The satellite will bring C- and Ku-band capacity to North and Latin America and the North Atlantic region, it said. The second EpicNG satellite, Intelsat 33e, targeting Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, is expected to launch in Q3, it said.

The FCC is right that 29.1-29.25 GHz isn't suitable for mobile terrestrial broadband, and sharing it with satellite communications "would be difficult and perhaps impossible," Iridium said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 14-177. It responded to a spectrum frontiers NPRM (see 1510220057) -- which Iridium called "at times very (and perhaps too) complex." But Iridium said it concurred with the FCC that, despite moves to open up bands above the 24 GHz band for 5G, 29.1-29.25 GHz "provides little value to mobile carriers seeking large quantities of contiguous spectrum." The amount of contiguous spectrum available in the 29.1-29.25 GHz bands sits below the minimum thresholds supported by most participants in the proceeding, nor is there international support for using the band for mobile use, Iridium said. Iridium -- with feeder links operating in the 29.1-29.25 GHz spectrum -- said sharing would be problematic, given that steerable phased array antennas at its earth stations might necessitate sizable geographic buffers from 5G operators.

Intelsat last week 16 began its 10-week drift from 76.2 degrees west to 58.1 degrees west. In an FCC International Bureau filing Thursday, Intelsat said the satellite's drift began Jan. 22. The relocation was initially expected to begin in November and has been moved back twice by unspecified delays (see 1512230009).