The satellite megaconstellation boom and growing use of small satellites won't present undue spectrum coordination challenges, though other emerging space applications could pose bigger potential problems, said Alexandre Vallet, ITU Radiocommunication Bureau's Space Services Department chief. “We may have to see how to make some room” for geostationary satellites increasingly being envisioned by nations that want to kick-start their own domestic space industry, he told a Silicon Flatirons conference Thursday.
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 second-generation of OneWeb's low earth orbit broadband constellation could come with such features as lower latency and thermal imaging capabilities, OneWeb Executive Chairman Shravin Bharti Mittal said Wednesday at Satellite 2021. Appearing via livestream, Mittal said the company raised more funding than was needed for its first-gen constellation, giving it a cushion to allow it to start planning work on the second-gen. He said the first-gen constellation should provide constant coverage of northern latitudes including Alaska, Greenland and northern Russia within 60 to 90 days. He said all 648 planned satellites should be in orbit and providing global coverage by May or June 2022. Mittal and OneWeb said Wednesday the company signed an agreement with AT&T for the telco to use OneWeb capacity to improve remote coverage for businesses. Eutelsat said Wednesday it completed its $550 million OneWeb investment announced in April (see 2104270055).
The world is moving too slowly on international rules and standards to tackle the non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite boom, space law experts said Tuesday at the Satellite 2021 conference and trade show. Work toward such a legal regulatory regime should have started long before now, said Jennifer Manner, EchoStar senior vice president-regulatory affairs.
EchoStar's yearslong planning and investment in S-band services could start bearing fruit late this year or early next when it expects the first devices using the LoRa protocol to be available, Chief Strategy Officer Anders Johnson told us. That opens the door to the satellite operator selling a geostationary orbit-based IoT overlay to terrestrial IoT networks in the EU. He said the company has been talking with satellite manufacturers about possible design of a 5G non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) constellation that could provide S-band services across much the rest of the globe, with launches starting as early as 2024.
Streaming service Locast went dark Thursday following U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York finding it violated the copyright of local stations whose content it carried without consent. Locast ally Mitch Stoltz, Electronic Freedom Forum (EFF) senior staff attorney, told us an appeal is likely. See our bulletin on the latest move here and our report on the court ruling against the nonprofit service here.
Locast shut down service Thursday following a summary judgment court decision in favor of broadcasters suing the nonprofit streaming service for copyright infringement. In a notification on the Locast app, it said its nonprofit operating model “was designed from the very beginning to operate in accordance with the strict letter of the law” and that following the court summary judgment it's suspending operations immediately.
With the FCC setting up processes for challenging C-band accelerated clearing certification (see 2108040060), satellite and wireless interests made suggestions in docket 21-320 Monday. Verizon, warning of delayed deployment of 5G, said concerns need to be raised now with the relocation coordinator instead of via certification challenges. It urged the Wireless Bureau to clarify that the 30-day period in the challenge and reply process for announcing cert deficiencies applies to initial and refiled certifications. T-Mobile said the bureau should clarify when overlay licensees can use the 3.7 GHz spectrum in the partial economic areas where they won the auction, since there's potential for approval of different certifications at different times by various satellite operators. It said if one satellite operator submits a validated cert by the relevant accelerated relocation deadline, auction winners should be allowed to access their licensed spectrum by that deadline. It argued against challenges to refiled certs being limited to the new information, since the amendment is to replace the original. Make clear that if a C-band satellite operator can address a challenge without amending that cert, it may do so, Eutelsat asked. It said the bureau should require each challenger to demonstrate how it qualifies as a “relevant stakeholder,” and staff should let satellite operators and challengers seek confidential treatment for eligible information that's in their agreement. Intelsat said there seems to be no requirement that challenges focus on potential deficiencies specific to the C-band order's requirements and not to matters outside of phase 1 C-band clearing implementation. It sought clarity on how the bureau will screen for the entities that are “relevant” and have standing to challenge satellite operator certs. Not making that clear could "open the door to abusive challenges based on competitive or commercial motivations," it said. The process the FCC proposes could stretch the time frame for determining the validity of a certification by weeks to years, SES said, urging instead sticking with 60 days for resolution. It said amended or refiled cert shouldn't trigger a new challenge cycle.
The C-band relocation payment clearinghouse anticipates reimbursement payments starting to flow by mid-October to satellite and earth station operators clearing the band for terrestrial 5G use. It started accepting claims submissions last week through its online Coupa portal (see 2108170060), and received about 400 claims of more than $700 million that week, said Frank Banda, CohnReznick public sector managing partner. CohnReznick and subcontractors are the clearinghouse.
Discovery filed a notice of dispute with the Polish government warning of formal action over Poland's treatment of its TVN broadcast network, the programmer said Thursday. A World Bank International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes tribunal would hear such a complaint under the 1990 bilateral investment treaty between the country and the U.S. Discovery said the notification "follows Poland’s discriminatory campaign" against TVN, including not renewing TVN24's broadcasting license and a vote Wednesday in the lower house of the Polish parliament in favor of legislation that would ban upstream foreign media ownership in the country. Discovery said the legislation is "the latest assault on independent media and freedom of the press, and takes direct aim at Discovery’s TVN, the country’s leading independent broadcasting group and news provider, as well as one of the largest U.S. investments in Poland." It said absent a "positive resolution," it would start arbitration proceedings. Discovery has operated in Poland for nearly 25 years, but "the current Polish government’s damaging and discriminatory actions ... leave us no choice but to bring charges under the US-Poland bilateral investment treaty," said Discovery International CEO JB Perrette. "This legislation will have a chilling effect on U.S. and European investment into the Polish economy, and we will aggressively defend our rights.” Discovery said the 1990 treaty includes obligations of non-impairment by arbitrary and discriminatory measures, nondiscrimination in granting licenses and the prohibition on expropriation without compensation. The U.S. was "deeply troubled" by the legislation targeting TVN, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday. "Poland has worked for decades to foster a vibrant and free media [and] this draft legislation would significantly weaken the media environment the Polish people have worked so long to build," he said: It "threatens media freedom and could undermine Poland’s strong investment climate." Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn't comment Thursday.
As ISPs face a growing number of lawsuits by music labels accusing them of complacency in battling piracy by their subscribers, intellectual property and copyright experts say it's not clear whether broadband internet access service providers have modified their procedures in response or whether such contributory and vicarious copyright infringement suits will continue to be filed and potentially won for years to come.