Jury instructions and plaintiffs' standing are at the heart of a Dish Network appeal of a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) verdict by the U.S. District Court in Greensboro, North Carolina, according to rival briefs posted Tuesday with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The TCPA verdict needs to be overturned because the class is "fatally overbroad," with the appellee having defined it to include many improper plaintiffs such as thousands of nonsubscribers who never received phone calls, Dish said in a docket 18-1518 brief (in Pacer). The lower court also wrongly instructed the jury that two calls to the same phone number establish the statutory requirement of two calls to the same person, it said. Appellees Thomas Krakauer and others said (in Pacer) precedent shows the TCPA zone of interests includes call recipients even if they weren't the subscriber and intended recipient. The appellees also said Dish doesn't cite any case contrary to the prevailing view that TCPA violations inflict concrete injuries on recipients. Dish is appealing at the 7th Circuit a similar telemarketing verdict in litigation brought by the FTC and states (see 1706270061).
ViaSat and Facebook will partner on an Internet connectivity initiative in rural areas internationally, revolving around the satellite operator's community Wi-Fi hot spot service, they said Wednesday. They said Facebook is investing in the rollout of thousands of such hot spots in ViaSat's current and planned coverage footprint, with the initial focus being expansion of ViaSat's community Wi-Fi service in Mexico and a subsequent global expansion possible.
El Al Israel Airlines is using ViaSat in-flight Wi-Fi on its trans-Atlantic flights, the satellite operator said Tuesday.
The expected small satellite boom will stress different parts of the satellite infrastructure ecosystem, a Northern Sky Research analyst blogged Tuesday. NSR said manufacturing hurdles related to finding sources of space-approved components and materials mean electronic systems and subsystems are likely to be "considerable bottlenecks," while the launch industry is similarly expected to be a big bottleneck for the next decade. It said given the increasing danger of collisions in space, "rigorous" international regulations are needed to cover everything from prelaunch notification and in-orbit maneuver tracking to right-of-way evaluation, end-of-life disposal and re-entry.
Comments on the FCC's orbital debris NPRM are due April 5, replies May 17, said a notice set for Tuesday's Federal Register. Commissioners approved the notice at November's meeting (see 1811150028).
Satellite-provided Wi-Fi hot spots aimed at unconnected populations worldwide likely will generate $7.5 billion annual revenue for the satellite communications by 2027, with the industry increasingly able to target those customers because of better price-per-gigabyte competitiveness and increased focus on distribution channels, Northern Sky Research analyst Lluc Palerm-Serra blogged Tuesday. Hurdles like the income of those populations mean providers need to sometimes offer entry-level data packages with small allowances, he said: They might need to look at free access to some content, plus mobile banking and telemedicine services, to stimulate demand.
SES' AMC-10 satellite was built before current FCC orbital debris mitigation rules took effect in 2004, and its oxidizer tanks can't be vented in decommissioning, the company said in an International Bureau filing Tuesday seeking waiver of orbital debris mitigation requirements. It said the license term for the C-band satellite, at 135 degrees west, expires May 4. The company plans to begin moving it to a higher, graveyard orbit before then.
Investment in emerging space companies topped $17.8 billion 2000-18, with the past two years generating more than $7 billion, Northern Sky Research said Tuesday. The market for novel space applications and new players is a big investment opportunity, but it has big challenges given its capital spending-intensive nature, NSR said. It said more merger and acquisition activity will likely follow and some markets are showing signs of startup saturation.
The growing number of satellites in orbit and increasing orbital debris make tracking satellites, identifying threats, and predicting and preventing collisions more difficult, the Defense Intelligence Agency said Monday. DIA said the U.S. advantage in space, plus perceived dependence on it, will drive rivals including Russia, China, North Korea and Iran to improve their space capabilities, which could threaten commercial, military and civil space-based services.
Satellite interests are backing the FCC NPRM proposing to let earth stations in motion (ESIM) communicate with non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellites operating in the fixed satellite service -- with caveats. EchoStar/Hughes in docket 18-315 comments posted Monday said ESIM operations in Ku- and Ka-bands on a secondary basis should be paired with interference protections of geostationary orbit (GSO) FSS operations via equivalent power-flux density limits and control of ESIM terminals by a network control center that can disable operations during harmful interference to GSO. It said the FCC should require ending or reducing ESIM emissions to prevent harmful interference. Kymeta said existing licensees holding blanket authority for ESIMs to communicate with GSO satellite systems should be allowed to file streamlined modification applications to add blanket authority to communicate with non-geostationary satellite systems in the relevant Ku- or Ka-band. The National Academy of Sciences' Committee on Radio Frequencies said approvals of ESIM operations should be paired with protections for radio astronomy service in adjacent or overlapping bands. Replies are due March 13. Commissioners approved the NPRM in November (see 1811150028).