OneWeb CEO Greg Wyler called it "obviously not true" in a tweet Wednesday denying a published report that Russia is buying a minority stake in the satellite broadband company.
Liberty Global agreed to sell its satellite-TV operations in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania for about $205 million to European media/satellite firm M7 Group, Liberty announced Friday. The businesses operate under the UPC Direct, FreeSAT and Focus Sat brands. Closing, subject to regulatory approval, is expected in 2019's first half. M7 said the businesses have about 800,000 customers.
The FCC reached a $900,000 settlement with Swarm Technologies for unauthorized satellite launch (see 1810040057), the agency announced and it appeared in Friday's Daily Digest. The settlement includes an extended period of FCC oversight and a prelaunch notice requirement to the commission. Swarm launched four small satellites in January, despite denial of the company’s application the previous month over concerns about the ability to track them, the agency said. Enforcement Bureau Chief Rosemary Harold said the agency will “aggressively enforce” requirements on preauthorization. “These important obligations protect other operators against radio interference and collisions, making space a safer place to operate,” she said. Friday, Swarm didn't comment.
SpaceX canceled Thursday's launch of a GPS satellite due to weather conditions, it said. The GPS III-SV01 spacecraft launch was rescheduled for Saturday.
Viasat slammed Hughes Network Systems' opposition to Viasat's petition to reconsider parts of an FCC Connect America Fund performance metrics order. Hughes argued the "petition should be denied because the Performance Metrics Order 'was in full force and effect' when it was adopted 'and parties were obligated to rely on it,'" Viasat said, posted Wednesday in docket 10-90. "This argument is absurd on its face. Nothing in the Commission’s rules prevents reconsideration of orders that are 'in full force and effect.' Indeed, if that were the standard, reconsideration would almost never occur." In September, Viasat targeted FCC requirements that satellite broadband providers receiving Phase II support retain third parties to do testing, and that satellite broadband providers do "real-world' latency tests using certain ITU-recommended procedures." Hughes didn't comment Wednesday. Safeguard "the bedrock principle that the standards applicable to auction participants must be clear before an auction begins and should not be substantively changed after an auction is over," Hughes asked the FCC Dec. 7. It urged denying Viasat's petition and granting Hughes' petition to clarify that a test for demonstrating compliance with a voice-quality requirement for high-latency bidders doesn't apply to CAF support distributed through a New York state broadband program, where Hughes won support.
SiriusXM asked FCC staff to OK the company's emergency alert system request (see 1811070047). The company says not all the satellite-radio provider's channels can carry such alerts "in a way that would trigger a downstream broadcaster’s own EAS alert," and EAS participants could monitor only the two SiriusXM free preview channels. It said the record appears complete after the Federal Emergency Management Agency OK'd (see page 3) use of SiriusXM satellites as alternative EAS monitoring sources for only those two channels, Sirius network Channel 184 and XM Radio network Channel 1, and the commission's comment cycle ended. A lawyer for the company reported in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 15-94 that he and others met Public Safety Bureau Deputy Chief Nicole McGinnis and Policy and Licensing Division Deputy Chief Greg Cooke.
SES Americom and O3b said FCC staff shouldn't OK OneWeb-proposed changes to its broadband satellite system because they are “speculative and would undermine” the agency’s application processing round framework. Anti-warehousing provisions bar two unbuilt systems in the same band, said the companies. “OneWeb has provided no public interest rationale for the significant expansion of the constellations,” an SES lawyer recounted telling International Bureau officials, including Satellite Division Chief Jose Albuquerque, posted Tuesday in docket 14-177. The two said the plans conflict with “OneWeb indicating that fewer satellites will be required for the first-generation rollout of its Ku/Ka-band system, highlighting the absence of any urgency for the Commission to consider vastly increasing the number of satellites OneWeb is authorized to deploy." The agency may OK such plans even amid opposition (see 1809130002). OneWeb representatives didn't comment.
The GPS Innovation Alliance sought reconsideration and clarification of a November order that granted in part and denied in part European Commission-sought waivers for receivers for Galileo's E1 and E5 signals, which transmit in the same radionavigation satellite service bands as GPS' L1, L2 and L5 signals (see 1811140008). “This action will remove uncertainty regarding operation of those devices, enhance their utility, and promote the global harmonization” of U.S. Global Navigation Satellite System operations, the alliance petitioned Monday night in docket 17-16. "Instead of denying the EC request that receive-only stations be permitted to receive signals in the 1240-1300 MHz band, the Commission should defer action on that issue until it assesses whether GNSS devices can co-exist with potential operations in the adjacent 1300-1350 MHz band when these possible uses are better defined. The Commission should also clarify that the Commission’s decisions (or lack thereof) in intergovernmental waiver proceedings only address the issue of whether the users of devices which receive foreign signals can invoke the benefit and protection of U.S. law.”
Al Yah Satellite (Yahsat) and Hughes Network Systems began a joint venture, YahClick, powered by Hughes, to provide commercial satellite services across Africa, the Middle East and southwest Asia, the companies announced Sunday. YahClick provides direct-to-premise service including broadband to homes and small- and medium-sized enterprises, they said. Masood Sharif Mahmood, CEO of Yahsat in the UAE, is YahClick chairman and Hughes President Pradman Kaul a board director.
The FCC's deal with Dish Network, in which Dish agreed to bid $1.5 billion in the H-block spectrum auction in exchange for waiving of some rules on Dish's AWS-4 licenses, "is unheard of in the annals of administrative law," NTCH said in a docket 18-1241/18-1242 initial brief (in Pacer) Thursday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. NTCH sued after the agency in August upheld a Wireless Bureau waiver request it was appealing (see 1808160065). In its brief, NTCH said the FCC set the reserve price in that auction at an unreasonably high level tied to the Dish deal to discourage potential bidders and ensure Dish would win most or all licenses. It said the construction extension Dish received ran contrary to well-established FCC policy on extending time for wireless system buildouts. The FCC challenged NTCH's standing (see 1810250056), and the company in its brief said it complied with the agency's standing requirements and it has Article III standing under the Constitution since the regulator's actions deprived the company of an opportunity to get an H Block license. The agency didn't comment.