FCC chairman Ajit Pai says he wants to approve Jeff Bezos and Amazon’s massive plan for a mega-constellation of an initial 3,236 satellites known as Project Kuiper. Pai, on July 10th, said he has shared his proposal with the other key members of the FCC. He Tweeted: “Earlier today, I shared with my colleagues a […]
Inmarsat and Hughes Network Systems have joined Eutelsat in objecting to the FCC’s current C-band auction rules. The pair say that the FCC’s incentive scheme favours Intelsat and SES and will give the two satellite giants an unfair competitive advantage. Inmarsat and Hughes (and EchoStar Satellite Services) have written to the FCC saying they agree […]
US pay-TV operator and wireless carrier DISH has completed its $1.4 billion (€1.24bn) acquisition of cellco Sprint’s prepaid brand Boost Mobile, officially entering the retail wireless market, serving more than nine million customers and advancing the build of what it says will be the nation’s first standalone 5G network. “Today, we are proud to welcome […]
The US Trustee, which is supposed to protect smaller shareholders and investors, has determined that an equity committee of common shareholders with Intelsat stock was not needed at this time but that it reserved the right to revisit the issue in the future as the bankruptcy continues. Seventy-three shareholders had combined (with some 2.3 million […]
A court case has been heard by the US Court of Appeals between ABS, Hispasat and Arsat which had been arguing that the FCC should pause the date of Commission’s Dec auction of C-band frequencies over the US. The trio were deliberately excluded by the FCC from its incentive plan for C-band compensation given to […]
Eutelsat has told the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that it will clear its required C-band spectrum over the US, and will order a new C-band satellite to provide replacement capacity for existing services. Eutelsat is required to clear its spectrum and have a satellite in orbit by 2023 in order to qualify for the FCC’s […]
As reported on June 16th, Luxembourg-based SES has ordered up four new satellites from US manufacturers to replace the C-band capacity it is giving up as part of the FCC’s accelerated C-band clearance plan. Northrop Grumman and the Boeing Company to manufacture and assemble the C-band only satellites in Dulles, Virginia and in Los Angeles, […]
The US satellite industry is about to get a few billions-worth of order for new craft. The new satellites will provide the fresh bandwidth to replace the C-band frequencies being given up as a result of the FCC’s push for 5G adoption in the US. Maxar Technologies has already said it has received a “multi-satellite” […]
The FCC, somewhat unusually, seems to have changed its mind and it is the world’s operators of Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellites which could benefit. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said on June 9th that the Commission had changed the text on its draft order. “We did accommodate a request from a commissioner (Commissioner O’Rielly) to […]
The Federal Communications Commission says it is taking “important” steps to foster the growth of next-generation data services enabled by the transition of digital television to the ATSC 3.0 standard. That standard expands the potential ancillary and supplemental uses of broadcast spectrum for new and innovative services, such as autonomous vehicles, smart agriculture, or telemedicine, […]