Dish Network and SpaceX clashed over Starlink subscribers using their earth stations in motion. Dish told the FCC International Bureau this week SpaceX hasn't retracted statements encouraging ESIM transmissions, and a growing number of Starllink users are using their terminals in motion. Such use is outside the company's FCC authorization, it said. It said tweets by CEO Elon Musk about the limited mobile capabilities now and fully mobile earth stations coming later this year are proclamations "from the mountaintops of social media, as if the regulated entity wanted to force the agency’s hand by creating a fait accompli on the ground." At least one of Musk's tweets was about Starlink service being provided in Ukraine, and "highlight[s] the lengths to which DISH will go so long as the Commission inexplicably leaves the 12 GHz proceeding open," SpaceX said Wednesday. It said Dish's "muddled and confusing" arguments seem to allege SpaceX is encouraging people to use Starlink terminals in motion, though Dish "is forced to admit -- no one from SpaceX encouraged anyone to use their terminal in such a fashion and that use is expressly prohibited in SpaceX’s Terms of Service."

SpaceX's Starlink seems to be planning to deploy satellites that the FCC didn't approve or evaluate when it authorized the company's first-generation configuration and aren't described or assessed for risk in its pending second-gen application, Viasat told the FCC International Bureau Tuesday. The second-gen Starlinks CEO Elon Musk described in a recent interview -- 7 meters long, weighing about 1.25 tons each -- are larger and heavier than the first-gen satellites and thus not covered by the orbital debris mitigation plan approved by the FCC, Viasat said. That means they're not authorized by SpaceX's current satellite system license, it said. SpaceX's pending second-gen application indicates those satellites should be deployable using a Falcon 9 rocket, but Musk is now saying the Falcon doesn't have the volume or mass required, noting the second-gen satellites differ from what's described in the application, it said. Larger second-gen satellites pose higher collision risks, it said. Viasat again said SpaceX's second-gen application should be denied or held in abeyance (see 2203090006) and said the agency should compel the company to clarify the physical characteristics of all Starlinks it intends to deploy and to submit revised orbital debris mitigation plans and analyses. SpaceX didn't comment Wednesday.

Aug. 10 is the deadline for operators of incumbent C-band earth station antennas listed as inactive by the C-band relocation coordinator to let the FCC International Bureau know those antennas are in continued operation and intend to participate in the C-band transition, per a notice for Thursday's Federal Register. No such bureau notification means the antenna authorizations will be terminated, it said.

Viasat's $7.3 billion buy of Inmarsat (see 2111080038) is being reviewed by the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector, said a DOJ letter posted Monday to the FCC International Bureau. “The Commission will be notified when the Chair has determined that responses to the Committee’s initial request for information are complete and the 120-day initial review period can begin,” the letter said.

Loft Orbital hopes to launch its Yet Another Mission-5 microsatellite as soon as October into low earth orbit, it said in an FCC International Bureau application Monday. It said the YAM-5 payloads it would carry on behalf of Loft customers would include a longwave infrared computer, a sensing payload and an IoT payload operating in the S band.

SpaceX's updated equivalent power flux density data for its proposed second-generation satellite constellation (see 2202070001) shows it will exceed applicable EPFD limits even using ITU-approved methodology, Dish Network told the FCC International Bureau Monday. It said SpaceX subdividing its system to circumvent the noncompliance is like claiming one "has broken Usain Bolt’s world record for the 100-meter dash based on their time for the first 5.6 meters." Dish said the agency should deny the 12 GHz portion of the application and reopen its approval of SpaceX's first-generation system to see if the company "has taken similar liberties." SpaceX didn't comment Tuesday.

While it has no objections to Skylo Technology's pending application for up to 1 million narrowband IoT mobile receivers (see 2105050003), Iridium Communications told the FCC International Bureau last week it's concerned about possible interference due to the multitudes of receivers operating in spectrum adjacent to that used by its satellites. It said it has started talks "to explore the extent of the interference potential posed by these adjacent band services."

Lynk has signed commercial agreements with 11 mobile network operators around the globe, co-founders Margo Deckard and Tyghe Speidel told FCC International Bureau staffers, per a bureau filing last week. The company urged full grant of its satellite system application, which was filed in May 2021 under the agency's streamlined small satellite licensing process. Lynk said it hopes for an October launch of three of its satellites, with another launch of three in January and a third launch of three in April. The October satellites received experimental licenses in May.

The satellite industry generally agrees FCC rules about spectrum sharing among non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) fixed satellite service (FSS) should apply to operators in the same processing round, and that interference protection shouldn't sunset while operators are compliant with their license or grant conditions, Hughes representatives told International Bureau staff, per a docket 21-456 post Friday. It said good-faith coordination obligations should include information-sharing obligations. Hughes said information-sharing requirements for NGSO FSS operators should also apply to sharing with geostationary operators as a means of ensuring NGSOs don't interfere with GSO operations. It said since there's no consensus on the level of protection operators need from systems approved in later processing rounds, a more fulsome record is needed to establish that appropriate level.

Sony America created a new subsidiary, Sony Space Communications (SSC), that will develop optical communications devices aimed at connecting low earth orbit satellites via laser, said the company Thursday. "By providing easy-to-use inter-satellite communications capabilities, SSC aims to increase the amount of communications in space and realize an Internet communications network covering the earth, space, and applications such as real-time services," it said. SSC officially started operations Wednesday, headquartered in San Mateo, California, under the leadership of President Kyohei Iwamoto.