The FCC should take a new look at service designations in the 27.5-38.35 GHz band because technology and market changes have shown that satellite operators deserve co-primary status there, said the Satellite Industry Association in a filing posted Monday in docket 14-177. That co-primary designation "would provide satellite operators much-needed certainty that their investments in significant earth station facilities will be protected against the impacts of terrestrial operations in the band," SIA said. With the FCC looking at modifying the parameters for terrestrial use in that band and opening it up for 5G mobile services, the agency should also look at means of guaranteeing fixed satellite services (FSS) access to the spectrum, because they already use it for earth station uplinks without any interference to local multipoint distribution services, SIA said. The FCC also should revisit its "dated assumptions" on other FSS earth station terminals operating in the band to ascertain what -- if any -- techniques or technologies now exist that could let FSS earth station uplinks operate in the band without interfering with terrestrial networks, SIA said.

Globalstar is again prodding the FCC to approve its plans for a private Wi-Fi channel for broadband terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) in the 2.4 GHz band. The agency has everything it needs, and the nearly two-year delay in approval "only postpones the enormous consumer benefits of TLPS," the company said in an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 13-213. It recapped a meeting between Globalstar representatives including General Counsel Barbee Ponder and a variety of Office of Engineering and Technology, International Bureau and Wireless Bureau staff. Globalstar repeated its latest case for approval (see 1509110018), including the details of a recent TLPS test in Chicago, the terms of its TLPS mitigation practices, and its pledge not to use LTE-U in the 2.4 GHz band until the agency allows LTE-U deployment in unlicensed spectrum. Even if TLPS were approved immediately, it would "take some time for Globalstar to deploy TLPS access points and for consumer devices to be able to receive TLPS on a widespread basis, given the need to finalize production model access points and modify existing client devices to operate on Channel 14," the company said, adding that "the sooner the Commission adopts rules permitting TLPS, the sooner the American public will enjoy the substantial public interest benefits of this service." But the Hearing Loss Association of America in a filing also posted Friday said Globalstar "has not submitted testing that demonstrates its will not interfere with hearing aids and assistive devices." The organization said the FCC should require more testing by Globalstar, and submit those results publicly, before any approval. "Hearing aids and hearing aid accessories now have functionality that depends on interaction with smartphones and computers," the group said "That functionality, in turn, requires using technologies in the unlicensed frequency bands. The Commission must exercise caution that the advances that people with hearing loss have made under accessibility laws is not undermined by failure to adequately test Globalstar’s proposed service."

Inmarsat is using multiple SpectralNet systems from Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in its L-band Tacsat (L-TAC) mobile satellite communications system, Kratos said Thursday. L-TAC enables "a UHF-like satellite capability" for use with UHF tactical radios, while using SpectraNet allows extension of L-TAC services to different satellites by digitizing RF signals for carriage on IP networks, Kratos said.

Arsat signed a contract with Arianespace to have it launch the ARSAT-3 geostationary communications satellite in 2019, with options for two subsequent launches, the launch company said Thursday. ARSAT-3's launch would follow the 2014 launch of ARSAT-1 and Wednesday's launch of ARSAT-2.

LightSquared revised its LTE/GPS interference test plan in the face of suggestions that the plan lacked any indication the testing would look at possible impacts to public safety, the company said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 12-340. The revised Roberson and Associates test plan also took steps to ensure wide-area augmentation systems (WAAS) also "are appropriately taken into account," LightSquared said. It said some devices -- such as public safety devices -- might be included in testing at -10dBm LTE power as part of a second round of data collection. Public safety devices also will be included in reacquisition testing in which the devices will be locked onto a GPS signal that then is turned off for several minutes, then restored, with the test then timing how long it takes to relock onto GPS in the presence of a strong LTE signal and without one, LightSquared said. The revised test plan also adds "Time to First Fix" testing with WAAS and some revisions to the test setups for different classes of GPS receivers. The revisions follow criticisms last month by the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council last month (see 1509100013). LightSquared said its details and proposed device list "continue to be refined and are thus subject to further revision."

Don't expect to see many mergers or acquisitions in the satellite industry despite the benefits of such consolidation, Intelsat Chief Financial Officer Michael McDonnell said Tuesday at a Deutsche Bank's investor conference. The few such M&A transactions in the industry -- such as Eutelsat's 2014 takeover of SatMex -- sometimes come with high price tags, and many smaller operators' governments aren't as interested in consolidation as their owners, McDonnell said. He declined to address directly what he called rumors of Intelsat considering a sale of some assets, except to say its satellite fleet is designed so most of them carry a variety of customer sets and they are supported by a common platform. "We don't really have any assets we consider to be non-core," McDonnell said. While the company's network services revenue has been declining in recent years, its high-throughput Epic satellite platform going online next year opens the door to expansion into markets such as connected cars and IoT and "is our path back to growth," McDonnell said. The company has four launches planned for 2016 -- Intelsat 31 and 29e in Q1 and 33e and 36 in the second half of the year -- and most of its satellites planned in coming years are Epics, he said.

Looking to increase service to airline passengers over the Caribbean, North America and the Pacific, Row 44 seeks FCC International Bureau approval to modify its existing Ku-band Earth Stations Aboard Aircraft license to add a satellite -- AMC-1 at 129.15 degrees west -- as a point of communication. In its IB application filed Monday, the in-flight broadband and entertainment provider said it expects to start service on AMC-1 as soon as possible. SES, which operates AMC-1, hasn't signed a coordination agreement with SkyPerfect JSAT for that company's Horizons-1 -- the only other Ku-band fixed satellite service satellite operating in the same bands, Row 44 said. In a separate IB application filed Monday, Row 44 asked for temporary authority to start service on AMC-1 using up to 100 earth stations while the license modification is pending.

Intelsat seeks FCC International Bureau approval to relocate Intelsat 16 from 76.2 degrees west to 58.1 degrees west. The 30-day drift is expected to run Nov. 4 through Dec. 3, with the new location so it can provide services to Intelsat customers Sky Mexico and Sky Brazil, Intelsat said.

ViaSat received its first Federal Aviation Administration supplemental type certificate (STC) for its in-cabin distribution system, it said Monday. It's the first of two STCs the company said it expects to receive for in-flight entertainment and connectivity, with the second expected in Q1 for its hybrid Ku/Ka-band antenna system. ViaSat's in-cabin distribution system -- deployed on Virgin America -- ties its antenna system to the in-flight entertainment system, providing Internet connectivity to passenger devices and distribution of broadcast TV over satellite to the onboard seatback display. The company also said Monday it has begun licensing its digital signal processing and forward error correction cores for 100G optical transport.

Sentech extended its contract with Intelsat by several years, Intelsat said Friday. Sentech uses Ku-band capacity on Intelsat 20 for its direct-to-home and digital terrestrial TV services in Africa, Intelsat said.