Dish Network's blanket prohibition against workers soliciting in work areas during nonwork time "flies in the face of settled precedent" that makes it unlawful for employers to require prior approval to take part in activities protected by the National Labor Relations Act, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) said in a brief (in Pacer) filed Monday with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The brief is in a pair of consolidated appellate cases, with Dish petitioning the court to review a board order issued in March against it and the NLRB cross-applying for enforcement of that order requiring the company to rehire a worker it fired and to rescind its solicitation policy. In its brief, the NLRB also rejected Dish's argument the agency must apply the special industry rules that cover retail establishments and permit more restrictive solicitation bans, since the Colorado call center at the heart of the complaint is not a retail establishment and there is no common area where employees and customers physically mix. And it said the evidence was clear the terminated worker was let go for soliciting coworkers to join a lawsuit regarding Dish's wage practices, contrary to Dish's claims the discharge was for putting a customer on silent mode. The NLRB dismissed Dish arguments the agency failed to show unlawful motivation, improperly relied on "generalized" animus against the worker and should have relied on Dish's business judgment for the firing. The agency said Dish mischaracterizes its analysis, which focused in part on the close timing between the employee's soliciting workers and his subsequent firing, and it isn't required to show additional animus beyond whatever animus was behind the contested action itself, such as animus against the employee personally. Dish didn't comment Tuesday.
Air Force One and other U.S. senior leader aircraft will have in-flight Internet and connectivity services through ViaSat, the satellite company said in a news release Monday announcing a $33 million U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency award. ViaSat said the contract covers various VIP and special mission aircraft and runs through May, with two six-month option periods beyond that.
Hispasat expects to launch its Hispasat 30W-6 satellite in Q2 or Q3 2017 to replace Hispasat 30W-4, the company said in an FCC International Bureau filing Friday, asking that the satellite be added to the Permitted Space Station List. In its application, Hispasat also asked for a declaratory ruling allowing the use of extended 13.75-14 GHz Ku capacity, 6725-7025/4500-4800 MHz and 13-13.25/11.2-11.45 GHz capacity on 30W-6, and for access to the U.S. market. Hispasat said 30W-6 will operate at 30 degrees west, where 30W-4 is now, and 30W-4 will relocate to another orbital slot or be used as a backup to 30W-6.
EchoStar 18, launched in June, would be a more efficient in-orbit spare if it were at 61.35 degrees west instead of its licensed 109.9 degrees west, Dish Network said in an FCC International Bureau filing Friday. Dish said it initially anticipated the satellite would be an in-orbit spare and eventually replace EchoStar 10, providing service from the 110 degrees west orbital cluster, but the company has since decided using it as an in-orbit spare at 61.35 degrees west "would be an efficient use of its satellite fleet." EchoStar 18 temporarily is at 67.2 degrees west for in-orbit testing, it said.
Inmarsat moved to the next phase of building its European Aviation Network in-flight broadband service, the satellite company said in a news release Thursday. Thales Alenia Space completed on schedule the construction and subsystem tests of the satellite for EAN, Inmarsat said. The satellite will undergo more testing before it’s declared ready for flight in 2017, it said. "Once these tests are complete, the satellite will be prepared for launch by SpaceX at Cape Canaveral in Florida.” The satellite will provide mobile satellite services to aircraft flying over dense European routes, using Inmarsat’s 30 MHz S-band spectrum allocation in the 28 EU member states, Norway and Switzerland, Inmarsat said. That will be integrated with a LTE-based ground network covering about 300 sites, operated by Inmarsat partner Deutsche Telekom, and aircraft will be able to switch automatically between satellite and terrestrial with on-board network communicators, it said.
Chairman-CEO Jay Monroe lobbied for Globalstar's terrestrial low-power service. Monroe "urged that the Commission expeditiously adopt rules in this proceeding to authorize" the TLPS "innovative broadband service," said a filing posted in docket 13-213 Wednesday about Monroe's phone call with an aide to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. "Such rules would serve the public interest by adding 22 megahertz to the nation’s broadband spectrum inventory and alleviating congestion in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. Simply put, consumers will be better off with the expanded capacity made available via TLPS," said the filing from a lawyer for the satellite company. The regulatory future of the product has been hazy. Commissioners Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel voted against a draft FCC order circulated by Wheeler's office that would allow the service to be phased in, and the two other regular commissioners hadn't decided (see 1607140049).
The FCC International Bureau refreshed its filing system to create Schedule S, which is used for documenting technical details of proposed satellite operations and is an annex to Form 312. The form is a key part of the FCC satellite licensing process. The new web-based filing system is now online; Schedule S goes live Monday, the bureau said in a Thursday public notice. “The new electronic filing system is intended to significantly improve the Schedule S application process and enhance its reliability,” it said. It aligns with rule changes adopted in two Part 25 orders expected to take effect this summer (see 1512170036). Until those changes become effective, applicants can choose to use the existing application filing software, the bureau said. But the new web-based system will be mandatory after the Part 25 second report and order becomes effective, it said.
AT&T and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers reached a pair of tentative agreements covering nearly 3,000 IBEW-represented workers in 14 states picked up when AT&T bought DirecTV in 2015, the telco said in a news release Tuesday. One agreement covers more than 1,600 workers in AT&T's field services group, and the other 1,300 call center workers in Boise, Idaho, and Missoula, Montana, the company said. The tentative contracts cover such issues as wages, healthcare, pensions and work rules and will go to the union's membership for a vote in coming days, it said.
Iridium's critiques of Ligado's planned LTE network (see 1607070010 and 1606220041) are full of holes, Ligado executives including Chief Legal Officer Valerie Green told FCC International Bureau officials including Satellite Division head Jose Albuquerque in a meeting recapped in an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 11-109. Ligado said there has been no technical analysis to substantiate Iridium's claims and it hasn't made a "clear 'ask' ... regarding a solution." Ligado also said the link budget margin Iridium already employs would protect from out-of-band emissions, and "millions" of authorized mobile satellite service uplinks could operate in neighboring bands under higher OOBE and in-band power levels than Ligado's 0.2-watt terminals. Iridium didn't comment.
Anything that could jeopardize the constant transmission of data that Seattle Public Utilities uses in operating the dams and reservoirs providing water to the Seattle area -- including Ligado's plans for the 1675-1680 MHz band in its terrestrial LTE network -- needs to be halted, SPU said in an FCC filing posted Monday in RM-11681. Since simple filtering won't work to mitigate interference from a strong commercial transmitter operating alongside a data collection system satellite downlink signal, the FCC needs to delay Ligado approval unless there are adequate protection zones around U.S. Geological Survey-related sites, SPU said. In a statement, Ligado said it's "eager to learn about the many ways in which the data currently distributed by [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] is used, and we are encouraged that stakeholders are taking the time to participate in the FCC proceeding on this matter. We are committed to protecting NOAA’s existing uses of the band and to ensuring continued access to and delivery of this important weather data.”