U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Keith Phillips of Richmond signed off on Intelsat's Chapter 11 post-petition financing plan, in an order (docket 20-32299) Wednesday. The financing includes a $500 million revolving credit facility and loans of up to $3.38 billion to go toward pre-petition debts.
Tariff classification rulings
Dish Network and RS Access urged the FCC to deny Kepler Communications' license application to operate earth stations in motion (ESIM), in the 12.2 -12.7 GHz band, arguing approval could complicate an agency update of its 12 GHz sharing rules. ESIMs aren't authorized in the band, and Kepler hasn't shown its ESIM receivers won't expose U.S. fixed satellite service for consumers to interference, RS Access told the International Bureau in a filing Monday. Allowing ESIMs in the band "would collapse the carefully crafted existing spectrum sharing network" for non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite service and multichannel video distribution and data service co-primary users, it said. Dish also said Kepler "has an ample supply of spectrum" for its ESIM service already. Kepler didn't comment.
Eutelsat's Phase II C-band accelerated relocation is complete, with a total of 79 earth station antennas transitioned in Phase I and Phase II, it said in FCC docket 18-122 Monday. It said all transmissions in the 3.7-4 GHz band in the continental U.S. have ceased. Eutelsat said its submission of $7.9 million in claims to the C-band clearinghouse for reimbursement is ongoing.
Due to orbital debris generated by Russia's November anti-satellite weapon exercise "and other intentional activity by governments," SpaceX satellites have had to perform hundreds of avoidance maneuvers, it told the FCC in a status report last week. It said about 60 of its Starlink satellites were deorbited between June 1 and Dec. 1. It said it lost control of two satellites during that span, and components believed to be responsible for those failures have been removed from future designs. One of those incidents, on Oct. 22, came around the time China said a SpaceX satellite came perilously close to the China Space Station (see 2112270053).
Viasat keeps interjecting itself into the FCC's review of SpaceX's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction application "as though they are online comment sections, raising baseless complaints again and again," SpaceX said Thursday in docket 20-34. It said Viasat filings such as last week's (see 2112230041) are "desperate attacks against a competitor as Viasat seeks to leverage the regulatory process to protect its legacy technology." Viasat said it stands by its filings showing SpaceX's Starlink system would fall short in satisfying its RDOF commitments and raising questions about whether SpaceX is otherwise qualified to receive RDOF support. "In its recent letter, SpaceX once again refuses to address these material deficiencies in its application and instead asks the Commission to ignore them simply because Viasat is a competitor," it said.
The FCC International Bureau wants more clarity on SpaceX's proposed second-generation broadband satellite constellation (see 2108260002). In a letter last week to the company's outside counsel, the agency asked for clarification on such issues as whether it plans to operate both systems simultaneously and whether it would deploy replacement satellites for the first-gen system or whether the second-gen satellites would be deployed in lieu of first-gen system replacements. Its three pages of questions also asked about the expected timing of second-gen system launches and when the company plans to notify the FCC which of the two constellation configurations it plans to deploy. It asked for answers by Jan. 7.
That the China Space Station twice this year had to do collision avoidance maneuvers because of too-close SpaceX Starlink satellites seems to point to SpaceX having lost control of the satellites, which "wasn't intentional," OneWeb founder Greg Wyler tweeted Monday. In a memo dated Dec. 3 to the U.N. secretary general, China said the space station had to maneuver once July 1 and twice Oct. 21. It said Starlink-2305 "was continuously manoeuvring" on the 21st, and "the manoeuvre strategy was unknown and orbital errors were hard to be assessed," so the second maneuver was to "ensure the safety and lives of in-orbit astronauts." It asked the secretary general to remind Outer Space Treaty signatories that they bear responsibility for national activities in outer space. SpaceX and the FCC didn't comment.
OneWeb's launch of 36 satellites via an Arianespace rocket on Monday -- its ninth launch in the past year -- brings its total in-orbit constellation to 394 satellites, the company said. That's more than 60% of its planned 648-satellite broadband fleet, it said.
Viasat is getting an additional 10 months to launch and begin operations of its ViaSat-3 satellite, with the FCC International Bureau on Thursday ordering a milestone date extension to Oct. 31. It said the extension from the Dec. 31 original milestone date reflects COVID-19 pandemic delays that were beyond the company's control. It said the time will let Viasat finish the nearly completed manufacturing phase and launch the satellite.
Avanti Communications Group seeks FCC OK for U.S. market access for its Ka-band Hylas-4 satellite launched in 2018. The U.K.-flagged satellite serves Europe and Africa, and Avanti wants to provide U.S. coverage with two of its four steerable spot beams, Avanti said in an International Bureau petition filed Tuesday.