SSOs Take C-Band Stay Argument to DC District Court
The FCC's C-band order, if not stayed, will mean "irreparable losses and competitive harm" to small satellite operators ABS Global, Empresa and Hispasat because they will be left with significantly less spectrum while their competitors will reap taxpayer-funded satellites and…
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billions of dollars that should go to the Treasury, the three said Monday in an emergency motion for a stay. The SSOs told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (docket 20-1146, in Pacer) the stay must be granted by June 22, the order's effective date, or the big C-band satellite operators, their customers and wireless companies will start incurring clearing costs and doing auction preparation they will claim can't be undone fairly. Barring that stay, expedite briefing and argument so the spectrum auction set for Dec. 8 doesn't happen before the SSOs' appeal of the order is decided, they asked. The FCC emailed it's "confident that this misguided effort to delay the clearing of this critical band of spectrum to support 5G services will fail. These companies don't use C-band spectrum in the United States and have failed to show that they will suffer any imminent or irreparable harm from the procedures the FCC has put in place. In any event, their legal arguments are meritless." Its Wireless Bureau denied the SSOs' stay request last week (see 2006110041). Intelsat said it signed agreements with Maxar and Northrop Grumman for six new satellites for the C-band relocation -- four from Maxar, two from Northrop. It said it's in talks with satellite manufacturers about a seventh satellite for the C-band transition.