The in-flight connectivity market for business aircraft has largely recovered from the pandemic, said Valour Consultancy co-founder and analyst Craig Foster Thursday in a webinar, saying Gogo and Inmarsat are close to resuming installation rates in line with pre-COVID-19 trends. He said it will take a handful of years before new low earth orbit constellations filter through to smaller aircraft as those constellations' initial focus will be on large-cabin jets. He said small and mid-sized aircraft are technological challenges for LEO satellite services, such as creating electronically steered antennas for smaller aircraft. He said in the nearer term, the business aviation market will focus more on L-band service and air-to-ground systems.
Matt Daneman
Matt Daneman, Senior Editor, covers pay TV, cable broadband, satellite, and video issues and the Federal Communications Commission for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications in 2015 after more than 15 years at the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, where he covered business among other issues. He also was a correspondent for USA Today. You can follow Daneman on Twitter: @mdaneman
The possibility of the booming number of planned low earth orbit satellites causing interference for other LEO systems or geostationary orbit satellites "will come to a head in the next couple years" and needs to be addressed, said Jennifer Manner, EchoStar senior vice president-regulatory affairs. Speaking Wednesday at a Nebraska College of Law space law conference, she said an open proceeding at the U.K.'s Ofcom about non-geostationary orbit satellite systems interfering with other NGSOs indicates the growing need for regulatory solutions.
RS Access' commissioned study showing viability of 5G coexistence with satellite incumbents in the 12 GHz band (see 2105100028) is based on flawed assumptions and still shows harm to tens of thousands of people, SpaceX said in an FCC docket 20-443 filing Tuesday. It said the RKF Engineering Solutions study “lacks a fundamental understanding of how the 12 GHz band is actually used,” and RKF hasn't offered to make the software that generated its simulations available for use by others more experienced with non-geostationary orbit satellite system operations. It said RS Access “has struggled to find supporters of the submission that do not have direct financial ties” to an MVDDS licensee. RKF "previously responded to nearly all of the inflammatory rhetoric raised in today’s SpaceX letter," said Chief Operating Officer David Marshack in a statement. "There is no new scientific content, only rehashed complaints. RKF has a 20-plus year track record of advising terrestrial, satellite (both GSO and NGSO), and technology companies, as well as government agencies, and we are confident in the work we've conducted on 12GHz coexistence, which is among the most detailed we have submitted in a Commission proceeding." RS Access CEO Noah Campbell said RKF "has produced the only serious engineering work to date [while] SpaceX failed to produce its own study. Instead of doing its own work, SpaceX continues baseless and misleading attacks on others. We stand behind the work performed by RKF and look forward to working with the Commission to unleash 12 GHz."
FCC officials told us 4-0 approval is likely at Thursday's monthly meeting of a draft NPRM on SIM swapping and port-out fraud (see 2109230080). Commissioner Brendan Carr's office said it expressed support for the item when it was on circulation, before being added last week to the September agenda. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks' office told us he's seeking two changes to the order. One is a request for comment about whether the FCC, when looking at authentication standards, should incorporate National Institute of Standards and Technology standards or opt for another set. Another change would be a request for comment about subsequent audits for compliance for any requirements adopted.
Noting underwhelming back-to-school broadband adds, Altice will likely end up with 15,000 to 20,000 net broadband losses in Q3 and broadband subscriber numbers that are flat to slightly up for the year, CEO Dexter Goei said virtually Thursday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference. He said a new product set and pricing launched early this month should move the company "back to normalized trends and positive net adds" in Q4. Goei said Altice would upgrade 1.5 million homes to fiber by year-end in its footprint where it competes with Verizon. It's also weighing whether to accelerate the timetable for upgrading an additional 1.5 million homes to fiber in that overlap area, and whether other parts of Altice's network should be upgraded. He said the resignation of Chief Operating Officer Hakim Boubazine (see 2109080083) came as operating trends "have been underwhelming the last year or so." Goei's decision to assume Boubazine's duties was designed to bring issues to his attention more quickly, he said. The stock closed down 13% to $22.06.
Expect fewer deals for commercial space companies to have initial public offerings through purchase by a special purpose acquisition company because the recent SPAC IPO spate has seemingly met a lot of the investor demand, experts said in interviews this week.
With the fifth next-generation GPS III satellite launched in June, six through eight are available for launch later this year, Space Force Space Systems Command Capt. Jonathan Teer said Tuesday at a Civil GPS Service Interface Committee meeting. Thirty-seven GPS satellites are in orbit, and prototyping and planning for better future capabilities and new ground systems are constantly underway, Teer said. He said the ninth and 10th GPS III satellites are under production. He said all 17 next-gen GPS III operational control system monitoring stations were complete as of July and transition of operations to them is expected in Q4 2022.
Massachusetts needs its own rules against phone number spoofing because federal efforts fall short, legislators said Monday during a hearing of the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure. The FCC stepping up robocall enforcement “isn’t enough,” said Rep. John Barrett (D), testifying in favor of HB-312. The FCC didn’t comment. Under federal law, spoofing is allowed unless a person is doing it knowingly with intent to defraud, but "why would there be any other reason?" Barrett asked. He said scammers "were out in force" during this pandemic. He said states enacted legislation to tackle spoofing, but "they're just not doing enough at the federal level." Echoing Barrett, Rep. Tom Walsh (D) said a caller using a Massachusetts area code should be required to be within the state and have a number attributable and traceable to the calling party. The federal government “seem[s] to have been dragging their feet a little bit," he said.
The only written communications between the White House and FCC before President Joe Biden's July 9 executive order to promote tech competition (see 2107090006) were some emails the day the EO was issued between an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and an Executive Office staffer about Starks' attendance at the signing ceremony. That's per a Freedom of Information Act request we submitted to the FCC July 14. We received a 34-page response Friday, most of which was a copy of the EO provided to Starks' office in advance of the signing, plus confirmation of Starks' attendance.
The FCC got pushback from some satellite operators for creating different subcategories of non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) regulatory fees, with different fee amounts. Any challenge to that aspect of the FY 2021 regulatory fee order adopted late last month (see 2108270072) is in limbo, satellite industry officials told us last week. Industry lawyers said there's no impetus to mount a protest or rejoinder now since it seemingly won't affect payments this cycle because the fees are due later this month. Challenge to the NGSO subcategories could after the order's publication.