Broadband service provider Quantis Global will use Intelsat's EpicNG high-throughput satellites and its IntelsatOne Flex services to enhance its broadband services in Europe and northern Africa, Intelsat said in a news release Tuesday. It said Quantis will use capacity from the 33e and 37e satellites, plus Intelsat managed services, to target such customers as nongovernmental organizations, enterprises, embassies, oil and gas, and maritime. Intelsat 33e began operations this week (see 1701300009), and Intelsat 37e is scheduled to begin service in 2018, the company said.

Satellite communications can start serving the mass consumer market due to the coming wave of competitively priced capacity, but first satcom operators must put more emphasis on sales channels, partners and product architecture to reach that market, said Northern Sky Research analyst Lluc Palerm-Serra in an NSR blog post Tuesday. NSR said satcom must build a strong retail presence for satellite Internet: "The 'build it and they will come' approach does not work, and the market requires significant effort for demand stimulation." The research firm said some satcom operators are creating their own demand aggregation points of Wi-Fi hot spots in unconnected underserved locations, and those aggregation points will be big drivers of consumer broadband demand for satellite services.

Iridium contracted with SpaceX for an eighth Falcon 9 launch of five of its Next constellation satellites, with the launch to happen by early 2018, Iridium said in a news release Tuesday. The Next satellites will rideshare with two satellites of the NASA/GFZ Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On mission, it said: That's a cost-saving means of getting some of the ground spare satellites of its Next constellation in orbit and allows the company to complete the operational constellation quicker than it would have with seven launches. Iridium said it already contracted with SpaceX for seven dedicated Next launches involving 70 Iridium satellites in low-earth orbit over the next 13 months.

Dish Network will pick up some EchoStar assets, including its 10 percent of Sling TV and wireless spectrum licenses covering four markets in the 28 GHz band, in exchange for Dish's 80 percent economic interest in Hughes Retail Group held in the form of a tracking stock, Dish said in a news release Tuesday. Dish said it also will take over EchoStar Technologies' hardware and software development group, its managed fiber backhaul network serving all U.S. designated market areas, its national and regional uplink business, over-the-top development group and some real estate properties. Dish said it will still market EchoStar satellite broadband under the brand dishNET to rural customers. It said the deal is expected to close in Q1. The deal vertically integrates "all the elements that define our customer experience -- one team will deliver the full DISH and Sling TV experience end to end," Dish President Erik Carlson said. "Not only do we gain full control of product development roadmap for DBS and Sling TV but we also anticipate achieving operational efficiencies." In a note to investors Tuesday, Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker said the motivation for the swap is unclear, "but our gut tells us Charlie [Ergen, Dish and EchoStar chairman,] is cleaning these two companies up for a reason … perhaps this could be related to something transformative post the broadcast incentive auction."

Intelsat's Intelsat 33e satellite, the second in its EpicNG high-throughput constellation, started operation as of Sunday after completing its in-orbit testing, the company said in a news release Monday. Intelsat 33e was launched in August and operates from 60 degrees east, providing C-, Ka- and Ku-band broadband service to Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean regions, it said. Three other EpicNG satellites -- Intelsat 32e, Intelsat 35e and Intelsat 37e -- are scheduled for launch this year, with Horizons 3e rounding out the constellation with its launch in 2018, it said.

Getting the high-altitude platform stations (HAPS) market off the ground might require focusing on applications like remote sensing and surveillance and scientific research as well as industry partnerships, Northern Sky Research's Research Director-France Claude Rousseau said in a blog post Monday. HAPS are both complementary to satellites and also have some advantages, Rousseau said. He pointed to some recent HAPS industry partnership announcements such as the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology memorandum of understanding with Thales and Mines ParisTech to develop applications for Thales Alenia Space Stratobus and World View 's deal with EWR Radar Systems to fly weather radar on high-altitude flights.

Ligado is fighting an attempt by Aviation Spectrum Resources (ASR) to have access to Iridium's technical analysis of how Ligado's proposed LTE service might cause interference to the satellite company's receivers. In a filing Monday in docket 11-109, Ligado said it's objecting to disclosure of confidential information to ASR outside counsel, saying ASR's request filed last week didn't indicate what relevance the information has to ASR or how it would contribute to ASR having material comments to submit in the proceeding. ASR didn't comment. In a separate ex parte filing Monday in the docket, Ligado recapped a meeting of its representatives with an aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. The company said it talked about the license modification applications it filed in 2015 to codify the power and out-of-band emission level agreements reached with GPS device makers, and the additional agreements reached with other such makers as well as the lack of any data showing those reduced LTE power levels will still affect GPS devices in the adjacent band. The company talked about reallocating 1675-1680 MHz for shared commercial use and the protection zones Ligado has proposed to safeguard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's earth stations using that spectrum. The firm said it renewed its oft-made push (see 1611250033 and 1611210031) for an NPRM regarding reallocation of that spectrum.

The FCC should aim to finalize broadband reverse auction rules in the first 100 days of the new administration, said Hughes Network Systems in a filing Wednesday in docket 10-90 on its meeting with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai. Hughes noted past Pai statements expressing a sense of urgency on completing the proceeding so companies can bid on Connect America Fund Phase II subsidy support and improve broadband/voice networks and service. "The CAF Phase II auction should prioritize broad participation and bid evaluation criteria that make broadband available as widely as possible in rural areas," the filing said. "The record supports a bid-ranking system that maximizes participation and breadth of broadband coverage." The company proposed a sliding scale of bid discounts (lower bids are generally favored in a reverse auction) for the FCC's planned four broadband speed performance tiers: 0 discount for the "Minimum" (more than 10/1 Mbps), 10 percent off for "Baseline" (more than 25/3 Mbps), 20 percent off for "Above Baseline" (more than 100/20 Mbps) and 30 percent off for "Gigabit" (1 Gbps/500 Mbps). The satellite firm also proposed usage-allowance and latency details, and noted some similarities in its overall approach with those of others, including telcos.

The consumer handheld satellite phone market will likely raise equipment prices or boost average revenue per user as major players look to compete with the land-mobile market, said Northern Sky Research Research Director Claude Rousseau in a NSR blog post Wednesday. He said the consumer handheld market -- targeting outdoors enthusiasts, remote workers and emergency services -- is expected to exceed 1 million in-service units by 2026. By trying to expand into new markets, the equipment will have to add features that will add to the expense, NSR said. It said Globalstar still dominates the consumer handheld market with its Spot products, and it -- plus Iridium's InReach and Thuraya SatSleeve -- could reach the 1 million mark.

Dish Network has 14 days to reinstate 17 discharged Texas workers to their old jobs or equivalent positions and compensate them for lost earnings and benefits, National Labor Relations Board Administrative Law Judge Robert Ringler ruled Tuesday. The NLRB decision said Dish in April imposed new contractual terms on unionized workers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area after five years of negotiations that effectively cut wages deeply and changed the terms of health coverage, resulting in 17 employees resigning. It said Dish didn't satisfy the burden of proving an impasse existed when it imposed the new contractual terms, violating the National Labor Relations Act. It said the 17 "were presented with the 'Hobson's choice' of continuing to work ... under greatly diminished conditions that flowed from the violation of their ... rights." The judge said the company, in violating the law by unilaterally changing those terms and conditions of employment, must at the request of the Communication Workers of America restore any unilaterally modified terms and conditions of employment and rescind the changes it made until it and the union reach an agreement. Dish was ordered to rehire an employee it fired in 2016 without having previously notified the union, in violation of an agreement for such prior notification. The firm in a statement Wednesday said it "respectfully disagrees with the NLRB’s ruling. The CWA refused to meaningfully negotiate on behalf of its represented workers in North Texas for more than a year and, in our view, is responsible for the impasse central to the decision. DISH acted lawfully at all relevant times and we are considering all available options, including appeal.”