Dish Network still has de facto control over SNR Wireless and Northstar Wireless. The two designated entities remain ineligible for $3.3 billion in DE bidding credits they sought for licenses they won in the AWS-3 auction. They don't owe the FCC that amount, having defaulted on 197 licenses and paid full price for the remaining spectrum they won in the 2015 auction. That's according to an order on remand Monday by the full commission regarding the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upholding in 2017 the FCC's denial of AWS-3 auction bidding credits to the DEs but giving them a chance to negotiate a solution (see 1708290012).
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
After NASA raised orbital debris concerns about AST's planned cellular broadband constellation (see 2011020007), the two began collaborating to allow sharing data and conjunction mitigation best practices that should lead to facilitation of safe space operations "and ... mutual success," NASA told the FCC International Bureau Friday. NASA said it can't withdraw its technical concerns until there's actual coordination and a defined plan, but "this need not preclude the issuance of the requested license" since it and AST "continue to work towards a positive outcome for all parties." CEO Abel Avellan said in an interview Friday that renewed wireless and satellite objections to AST's request for U.S. market access based on use of terrestrial spectrum (see 2011200010) are premature since his company currently seeks market access, not authorization for operations. He said the test satellite AST plans to launch in 2021 will meet FCC Part 24 and 27 requirements.
AST's defense against challenges to its pending U.S. market access petition for its SpaceMobile broadband constellation (see 2011130016) ignores the issues raised and the fact AST still hasn't shown how it will provide mobile satellite service (MSS) without interfering with other primary licensed users, wireless interests told the FCC International Bureau in filings Thursday. CTIA said AST’s plans to use terrestrial spectrum for MSS requires a rulemaking process, and its requests to use the V band for MSS gateway links should be denied since the company hasn't explained why its MSS system should be given access to fixed satellite service frequencies or the requested waiver of those rules. Verizon said AST hasn't addressed such issues as whether it can provide the V-band service without harming existing U.S. terrestrial operations and that the proposed satellite service goes against the FCC licensing framework. T-Mobile said AST argues its providing service to mobile terrestrial licensees should be looked at later, but FCC precedent supports addressing the terrestrial component in tandem with the MSS component; otherwise an MSS satellite wouldn't be capable of operation. AST also got continued pushback from some satellite operators. Rpeating its argument that AST should be treated as an applicant in a new V-band processing round, Amazon's Kuiper said it hasn't shown why it should get a waiver of processing round rules. Echoing arguments that consideration of V-band operations should be deferred until a processing round, Hughes/EchoStar also said the FCC should make clear that under existing rules, AST can't lease terrestrial spectrum to provide MSS or other satellite services and should seek clarification from AST that its satellite operations won't use leased terrestrial spectrum to provide those services. AST didn't comment Friday.
SNR Wireless and Northstar Wireless remain under de facto Dish Network control and thus aren't eligible for $3.3 billion in designated entity bidding credits they sought for licenses they won in the AWS-3 auction, the full FCC said in an order Monday. This arose from issues remanded from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 2017 after it upheld FCC denial of the auction bidding credits but gave the DEs a chance to negotiate a solution to the Dish control.
The FCC Part 25 satellite rules order adopted 5-0 Wednesday (see 2011180043) reinforces the agency's argument for requiring earth station re-coordination with upper microwave flexible-use licensees (UMFUS), according to our side-by-side comparison of the draft and the final order released Thursday. Re-coordination is "an important check on potential warehousing," it said. "Requiring earth station operators to simply notify changes to UMFUS licensees would instead place the burden of those changes, and the risk of non-deployment of the earth station, on UMFUS operators," it said, calling re-coordination "a reasonable tradeoff." The FCC saw no reason to treat geostationary or non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite service earth stations differently under the rules. Regarding the part of the order obviating earth station operators from having to notify the FCC of minor modifications, the adopted version includes caveats with required notifications due to changes in antenna height and any increases or decreases in a station's power flux density contour. The draft directed the International Bureau to someday put out guidance on implementing a unified licensing framework. The approved order expands on that. It said the agency won't postpone the effectiveness of the unified license framework until after the explanatory public notice, since the practical experience the bureau gets in implementation will likely be useful in developing that guidance.
Traditional video service still has life "in my neck of the woods" in ways it might not on the coasts, said Patty Jo Boyers, president of southeast Missouri-based cable ISP Boycom Vision, on C-SPAN's The Communicators, to be televised this weekend. She said part of Boycom's customer base is elderly poor who can't access over-the-top service. She said cord cutting slowed during the pandemic, and the company had a big increase in broadband customers, due partly to OTT demand. Asked if the FCC is "an ally," Boyers, who's also ACA Connects chairman, said, "Today, yes. In the past, not so much." She said Chairman Ajit Pai's administration "has been refreshing" with its work on reversing onerous regulatory burdens. She said the way U.S. broadband networks handled a deluge of demand during the COVID-19 pandemic was proof of that approach. "We consider [all FCC administrations] allies," though it will sometimes disagree, ACA President Matt Polka said.
Despite the satellite industry heavily lobbying the FCC on the required re-coordination of earth stations that haven't been built out within a year when they share bands with upper microwave flexible-use service (UMFUS) (see 2011050010), satellite interests told us the draft order to be voted on at commissioners' meeting Wednesday is likely unchanged from what was released. The industry could look at a petition for reconsideration next, we were told.
Satellite interests continue to press the FCC to amend the Part 25 blanket satellite licensing order on November's agenda (see 2011050010). The draft's requirement of re-coordination of earth stations that haven't been built out within a year when they share bands with upper microwave flexible-use service (UMFUS) "undermines ... certainty," EchoStar/Hughes, Viasat and Inmarsat said in a docket 18-314 posting Thursday. Coordination is "costly and time-consuming," and the FCC could instead ensure UMFUS operators have information about an earth station buildout beyond one year through a notice provision at least 60 days before bringing the earth station into operation, they said. Also arguing for draft order changes, representatives of the Satellite Industry Association, EchoStar/Hughes, Inmarsat, Amazon, SES, Iridium, Telesat, Boeing and Intelsat talked with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai and with International Bureau Chief Tom Sullivan. CTIA, in talks with a Pai aide, Sullivan and Commissioners Brendan Carr, Mike O'Rielly and Geoffrey Starks, opposed extending earth station buildouts beyond one year. The group said if the agency did, the re-coordination requirement "is imperative to limiting the potential chill on UMFUS buildout from earth stations that are authorized but never actually operational."
SpaceX's focus in coming months is expanding its consumer footprint in the U.S. and its service into new countries, said Vice President-Starlink and Commercial Sales Jonathan Hofeller in a Euroconsult discussion Tuesday. Canada's Innovation, Science and Economic Development Department approved SpaceX providing service last week. Hofeller said SpaceX also aims to broaden its customer base into government, educational and enterprise. Telesat Senior Vice President-Corporate and Business Development Michael Schwartz said its low earth orbit constellation is being designed to emulate fiber as much as possible, with launches to start in early 2023. He said it anticipates announcing a manufacturer of its LEO satellites later this year. Stewart Sanders, head of the SES/O3b mPower Program, said first launch of SES' mPower constellation will be in less than a year, with service commencing in 2022. Asked about the state of Iridium's 2019 memorandum of understanding with OneWeb for a combined L- and Ku-band service offering, Iridium CEO Matt Desch said he doesn't know where it stands, with OneWeb emerging from bankruptcy. "They're still resetting themselves as a company," he said.
Alaska Communications Systems' $300 million purchase by Macquarie Capital and GCM Grosvenor should close in the second half of 2021 (also see personals section, this issue), CEO Bill Bishop noted on a call Thursday: The deal needs regulatory OK. ACS Chairman Dave Karp said the takeover should mean more resources for operations. Q3 revenue was $60.5 million, up 2.3% year over year. ACS said it completed its subsea fiber network upgrade and is in the midst of deploying fiber for 5G backhaul, while fiber to the home remains a priority. Bishop said the spectrum bought in the FCC citizens broadband radio service auction covers more than 40% of the population of the state and would be used for broadband delivery.