Iridium is taking over much of the satellite operations and maintenance work done for it by Boeing, it said in a news release Wednesday. It expects to hire most of the Boeing staffers who do operations and maintenance on its satellites starting in January. Iridium said it will go into a separate development services contract with Boeing. Iridium's first launch of its Next satellite constellation approaches and the company plans to start transitioning to that new constellation.

Non-U.S. applicants face a more-burdensome satellite application process than U.S. applicants do, and the solution is to let applicants file ITU coordination requests on a confidential basis before completing their satellite applications, ViaSat said in Monday in a filing in FCC docket 12-267. No satellite operator would have a place in queue without filing a complete satellite application, and both U.S. applicants and non-U.S. ones would be treated the same, the company said. The filing responded to SES' petition for reconsideration of the agency's Part 25 satellite rule changes adopted last year (see 1609200049). There, the FCC said once an applicant is given authority for a given orbital location, any conflicting applications will be dismissed, ViaSat said. So SES is off when it claims a grant of a U.S. license doesn't preclude giving market access to a foreign licensee with ITU priority, ViaSat said. But it said its proposal would alleviate SES' concern U.S. applicants can establish queue priority by filing out the simplified Form 312 "short form," making a coordination request and posting a $500,000 bond but without having to submit a complete satellite application. ViaSat said it wasn't taking a position on SES' request to reconsider the "short-form" mechanism itself. SES didn't comment Tuesday.

Opposition by a class-action litigation plaintiff to DirecTV's motion to compel arbitration doesn't respond to any DirecTV arguments why the arbitration clause in her customer agreement isn't valid, the company said in a memorandum filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Plaintiff Doneyda Perez said she never agreed to arbitrate claims but formed a binding arbitration agreement by using and paying for DirecTV and by signing her equipment lease agreement, the satellite company said. It recounted that the decision in Joaquin v. DirecTV, involving identical claims, said it also was within the scope of the DirecTV arbitration agreement. Perez, who owns an Orange County, California, beauty salon, alleges DirecTV seeks out small-business owners to sell its satellite-TV service for use in their business, designates those accounts as residential, and then later accuses them of pirating signals. Counsel for Perez didn't comment Monday.

Pointing to "a muddy record" that DirecTV and the FTC created, U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam of San Francisco in an order (in Pacer) Friday gave the two a Tuesday deadline for a jointly prepared chart summarizing the documents sought to be sealed and their positions. In his order, Haywood said with it wasn't clear who wanted what briefs and exhibits sealed in the agency's motion for partial summary judgment, due to the piles of administrative motions and subsequent corrections and oppositions. The commission is suing the company over advertising practices (see 1503110042).

The Satellite Industry Association and Global VSAT Forum issued a set of cybersecurity core principles that they say should be central to private and public sector cybersecurity efforts. The three principles are an endorsement of "voluntary, industry-led efforts and public-private partnerships" as the best route to address cybersecurity; a plug for voluntary information sharing "free from fear of adverse consequences"; and a call for satellite industry groups to tackle cybersecurity issues "using industry best practices for risk management," the trade groups announced Thursday.

Globalstar is pitching its revised broadband terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) proposal in a series of meetings and calls with FCC officials. In an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 13-213, the company recapped meetings between representatives including Vice President-Finance, Business Operations and Strategy Tim Taylor and General Counsel Barbee Ponder with legal aides for Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel, Ajit Pai and Mignon Clyburn. The company said it used those meetings to assert that its revised proposal (see 1611100031) should take care of any remaining interference-related concerns regarding its operations below 2483.5 MHz and how they might affect Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and that its TLPS at 2483.5-2495 MHz would have to meet the interference obligations laid out in Part 25 rules. The company also said its latest proposal should address any policy issues stemming from its now-abandoned plan to use 10.5 MHz of unlicensed spectrum. In an ex parte filing, the company recapped phone conversations with International Bureau Satellite Division Chief Jose Albuquerque and Office of Engineering and Technology Deputy Chief Ron Repasi in which it pointed out it would be required to protect other licensed systems from harmful interference while its TLPS wouldn't be entitled to interference protection from other authorized operations, and that its revised proposal follows the power and emissions limits and gating criteria in the NPRM.

L-3 Electron Technologies joined the Satellite Industry Association, the trade group announced Tuesday. Part of L-3 Communications' Space & Power sector, it makes hardware, including traveling wave tubes and electric propulsion systems for space and military applications.

In the interim before it reaches its goal of a constellation of 900 cubesats put in orbit over 15 years (see 1511240022), Spire Global is asking the FCC International Bureau for approval to deploy up to 100 satellites in its Lemur-2 constellation next year. In an application amendment filed Monday, the maritime and meteorological monitoring and earth imaging services company said that interim step comes as the company has run into "complications in the completion of coordination for the frequencies" originally proposed for its Lemur-2 constellation. Monday's filing comes after the bureau in October approved Lemur-2's Phase I of up to 28 non-geostationary satellites, though it deferred action on Phase II and said that based on feedback from NTIA, future nonfederal satellite licenses using the 402-403 MHz band for downlinks would "only be exceptionally considered." It also didn't approve Spire using 402-403 MHz downlinks to four of its earth stations. In its application amendment, Spire said it was looking to add various downlinks and uplinks "to increase the flexibility it has to coordinate spectrum use with existing users." In Phase 1B, Spire said it wanted authorization to add 2200-2290 MHz and 401-402 MHz downlinks and 399.9-400.05 MHz uplinks to the frequencies allowed, as well as multiple receive-only frequencies. In Phase 1C, Spire said it also wanted authorization for addition of the 449.75-450.25 MHz uplink frequency. The company said it plans to launch its 100-satellite Lemur-2 constellation over the course of 16 separate launches in 2017, with each satellite having an operational lifetime of up to two years and an orbital lifetime of, at most, 12.8 years at the highest orbit sought, 600 kilometers.

Looking to boost its presence in the aviation market, ViaSat purchased Irish aviation software company Arconics, it said in a media release Monday. The companies had a partnership revolving around wireless in-flight entertainment offerings, and post-acquisition, the satellite company said it plans on offering airlines "real-time insight, control and agility of aircaft and flight data."

Intelsat wants to relocate its Intelsat 9 satellite and use it for two additional years. In an FCC International Bureau filing Friday, the satellite company asked for a modification of the Intelsat 9 authorization to let it relocate from 43.1 degrees west to 29.5 degrees west. It said the drift is expected to take about two months, with operations at 29.5 degrees west expected to start around May 1. Intelsat 9 would take the place of Intelsat 701, which is currently at 29.5 degrees west and is expected to de-orbit in Q2, Intelsat said. Intelsat 9's current license term is set to expire July 31 and the company said it wanted to extend that term through July 31, 2019.