OneWeb again argued against band segmentation when coordination talks fail (see 1803010031), in a meeting with FCC International Bureau Chief Tom Sullivan, according to a docket 16-408 filing posted Monday. It said David Goldman, chief counsel-communications and technology, House Commerce Committee, and GSMA Spectrum Head Brett Tarnutzer also attended. OneWeb said it also told the bureau that use of the 12.2-12.7 GHz band on a protected basis is vital for the company and terrestrial broadband can't employ that band. OneWeb indicated satellite operators can work with terrestrial interests on flexible and efficient use of the 28 GHz band, but current rules might create earth station siting difficulties. In a separate filing, OneWeb defended as an alternative to band splitting its proposed global public notice rule: that the FCC fall back on filing date priority for deciding how two systems can be protected during stage 2 coordination once the coordination trigger is surpassed and the sides can't reach coordination agreement. It said similar ITU coordination policies guide non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite systems outside the U.S. On concerns that parties with higher ITU coordination priority lack incentive to coordinate with lower-priority systems, it said FCC rules require coordination in good faith, and the current satellite economy shows investors are interested in systems even without ITU priority.
The U.S. District Court in Houston does in fact have jurisdiction over Canadian and British defendants, under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(k)(2), in Dish Network's copyright complaints against alleged streaming video piracy operations ZemTV and TVaddons, Dish told the court in a docket 17-1618 reply (in Pacer) Wednesday to the defendants' motion to dismiss (see 1801090012). Dish said the defendants didn't respond to written discovery requiring them to identify any other state in which they would be subject to jurisdiction or seeking information about their contacts with other specific states. And it said the two "purposely availed themselves" of the U.S. market for producing and distributing ZemTV through TVaddons. Counsel for the defendants didn't comment Friday.
Andreessen Horowitz made its first space-related investment with Astranis Space Technologies. Andreessen partner Martin Casado blogged Thursday that the venture capital firm liked the broadband satellite company's proposed use of technology to provide high-bandwidth coverage using small geosynchronous satellites. Andreessen emailed us that its investment is $13.5 million.
OneWeb CEO Greg Wyler met with FCC Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel to make the case that for successful non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite services, band segmentation shouldn't be the result of failed good-faith coordination talks. A docket 16-408 filing posted Thursday said he also urged regulatory encouragement of responsible and reliable satellite design and operation.
Cumulative flat-panel satellite antenna equipment sales are expected to reach $7.9 billion by 2027, Northern Sky Research said Wednesday. It said aeronautical equipment will be the chief driver of manufacturers' revenue, but fixed broadband applications on non-geostationary orbit satellites will be the chief, long-term volume market. It said cost and performance traditionally have been the biggest hurdles to deployment, but in-flight connectivity demand and NGSO beam steering are driving improvements in ground equipment technology. It said once prices drop, flat panels will better compete with parabolic antennas, leading to more adoption of them for fixed applications.
Israel's NSLComm plans to a launch a high-throughput nanosatellite, NSLSat-1, in low earth orbit (LEO) in November, it said Tuesday. It said the nanosat will deliver up to 1 Gbps and opens the door to a variety of LEO satcom services.
ViaSat's satellite-based residential broadband service offers speeds of up to 100 Mbps and unlimited data plans, the company said Tuesday, unveiling the service. The service comes from the company's ViaSat-2 satellite, and it has plans at 12 Mbps, 25 Mbps, 30 Mbps, 50 Mbps and 100 Mbps nationwide. It plans ViaSat-2 services for business and government, plus commercial and business aircraft in-flight connectivity. It said its first ViaSat-3 satellite, which will offer 1 Tbps network capacity, is expected to go into service in 2020 in the Americas, to be followed with a second satellite months later for Europe, Middle East and Africa coverage, and with a third ViaSat-3 planned for Asia-Pacific.
Gilat Satellite Networks and Intelsat signed an agreement for Gilat to use Intelsat capabilities in its expansion of 4G wireless services in North America, Intelsat said Monday. It said Ku-band services from two if its satellites will be used to let mobile network operator customers of Gilat's expand network coverage to serve remote areas in the North American market.
S&P downgraded Dish Network to a B from B+, citing in part the “substantial subscriber losses” the company reported last week in its direct broadcast satellite business, said a Monday update. Dish had 9.4 percent fewer satellite subscribers Dec. 31 than a year earlier, while Sling TV subscriptions rose 47.4 percent (see 1802210043). Though “certain scenarios” involving Dish’s plans “to monetize spectrum investments could be credit positive longer term, such as a leasing agreement, rating upside is limited over the next year,” said S&P. Dish representatives didn’t comment. Dish shares closed 1.1 percent higher Monday at $44.95.
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology signed off on a ViaSat experimental license modification adding the ViaSat-2 satellite to a test of fixed very small aperture terminal equipment and increasing the geographic footprint to include Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, it said Monday.