SpaceX, arguing it's the first operational non-geostationary orbit constellation in the FCC's Ku- and Ka-band processing round and thus entitled to first choice of “home base” Ku-band frequencies (see 1906130002), is "misreading" rules, Telesat outside counsel told the International Bureau. That's according to a posting Thursday. It didn't elaborate.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology approved an experimental license to SpaceQuest for downlinking data in the S band from its Thea non-geostationary orbit satellite. OET said in a Tuesday email that Thea is being used to test an experimental spectrum survey payload developed by Aurora Insight aimed at measuring use of the 1.35-8 GHz band using a wideband antenna.

South Africa, Mozambique, Gabon and Rwanda OK'd Globalstar providing terrestrial mobile broadband services over the 2483.5-2500 MHz band, it said Wednesday. Botswana gave similar approval in 2017 (see 1711160005). Globalstar said it established domestic subsidiaries and is pursuing LTE opportunities. The Rwanda and Gabon licenses include C-band authorizations at 5.1 and 7 GHz for the possible establishment of satellite earth stations that would work with existing gateways in Botswana, France and Turkey to augment African coverage.

The Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation is supporting SAE efforts on standards for resilient global navigation satellite system and precision navigation and timing receivers. RNTF blogged Monday that there long have been calls for "tougher" receivers resistant to jamming, spoofing and adjacent band interference.

ViaSat wants to replace its U.S.-licensed Galaxy-28 satellite with its U.K.-licensed one but with the FCC licensing its operations at the 29.5-30 GHz and 19.7- 20.2 GHz band segments. In an International Bureau application Monday, the company said ViaSat-3 would operate at 88.9 degrees west under U.K. authority. The U.S. currently licenses Galaxy-28, which operates in the 29.5-30 GHz and 19.7- 20.2 GHz band segments, and the new satellite would use those band segments plus the 18.3-19.3 GHz and 28.1-29.1 GHz band segments, it said. ViaSat said its U.K. market access grant is conditioned on the new satellite being regulated by the U.K. concerning orbital debris mitigation. In an accompanying application for market access grant modification, ViaSat requested modification of its existing market access grant for its satellite at 88.9 degrees west to add frequencies reflecting the design of ViaSat-3. It also asked the FCC to extend the milestone for launch and operation of the satellite until Dec. 31, 2021; its current authorization expired Tuesday.

If the FCC OKs Ligado's pending license modifications to let it use 35 MHz of mid-band spectrum for 5G, it would be an active participant in any agency auction for the 1675-1680 MHz and likely "ensure" a successful auction by meeting a reasonable reserve price. That according to Ligado officials and economic consultants who met with Office of Economics and Analytics, Office of Engineering and Technology and Wireless Bureau staffers, recounted a docket 19-116 ex parte posting Monday. Ligado said without that license modification approval, its robust auction participation and its ability to create a 10 MHz contiguous block with the 1760-1675 MHz band is in question. The company said that could mean lower auction price and ultimately a delay in 5G.

OneWeb and Kepler also tried to claim the status of being the first operational non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) constellation in the FCC's Ku- and Ka-band processing round (see here and here), but they're premature, SpaceX said in an International Bureau posting Thursday. It said both launched satellites and have U.S. market access, but neither apparently had a licensed Ku-band earth station operating in the U.S. when they claimed they were capable of operation. SpaceX said its NGSO satellites have been communicating with its earth stations since the May 23 launch. SpaceX previously told the bureau it should have first choice on Ku-band frequencies during in-line events because of being the first Ku-band NGSO constellation in the Ku- and Ka-band processing round to operate (see 1906130002). OneWeb and Kepler didn't comment Friday.

Given the danger of nonfunctional satellites whose injection orbit is near the operational orbit of another satellite system, the FCC should make clear that physical coordination requirements also apply to operations during the launch and early orbit phase, said Telesat in a conversation with the International Bureau recapped in a docket 18-313 posting Thursday. The company said the talk was prompted by another operator directly injecting its satellites at an altitude of 1,000 kilometers, which is the operational altitude of Telesat's low earth orbit constellation. Telesat said the FCC also should establish a presumption a direct injection should be prohibited if it overlaps with the orbit of an authorized or operating constellation. It said absent such an overlap, parties should determine the separation distance between a direct injection and an operating or authorized constellation's orbit.

Ligado told the FCC Friday a content delivery system is a cheaper, more efficient way to deliver NOAA data to universities and companies like AccuWeather that monitor data from weather satellites. In May, commissioners approved 5-0 an NPRM proposing to reallocate the 1675-1680 MHz band for 5G (see 1905020061). “Non-Government users currently obtain the data via their own Earth stations,” Ligado said, posted Friday in docket 19-116. “This is an expensive, complicated, and exclusionary means of obtaining the data, one that takes at least 11 months and costs over one hundred thousand dollars to set up.” A CDS is much more efficient, the satellite firm said: A prototype CDS is providing NOAA data to George Mason University and the University of Oklahoma. “The public interest benefits of a CDS are clear: it could increase by orders of magnitude the number of users that have access to the NOAA data without any sacrifice in reliability or latency,” Ligado said. “NOAA itself has developed similar CDSs as part of its Big Data Project.” AccuWeather didn’t comment. Ligado sees itself as offering the fastest path available for getting more mid-band spectrum in play for 5G (see 1906050062).

Chips message robust authentication (Chimera) technology would protect and augment GPS signals, but the biggest hurdle to more resilient positioning, navigation and timing capabilities is the dearth of U.S. leadership and concern, blogged Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation President Dana Goward Wednesday. Concerns about potential GPS spoofing date back decades, and Chimera was proposed in 2003, but only now is the federal government looking at it, said Goward. Even if Chimera is implemented, the lack of standards for GPS receivers used in critical applications means it could be decades before legacy GPS receivers are finally all phased out, he said.