The FCC's orbital debris draft order on Thursday's agenda (see 2209080057) is expected to pass 4-0, though some tweaks are possible to the draft's language on waivers for its requirement that satellites in low earth orbit be disposed of via re-entry within five years of the end of mission, an agency official told us. Space regulatory experts said other regulators around the globe are likely to mirror the commission in reducing the post-mission time frame for de-orbiting from 25 years to five.
A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel repeatedly challenged Reno's right-of-action arguments Monday during oral argument in the city's appeal (docket 21-16560) of a lower court rejecting its franchise fee litigation against streamers Netflix and Hulu (see 2202080088). The 8th Circuit is scheduled to hear oral argument Tuesday in an appeal by Ashdown, Arkansas, regarding a similar dismissed franchise fee suit against the streaming services.
Facing a growing number of partnerships that would meld satellite and terrestrial mobile coverage, the FCC is likely to continue to take an ad hoc approach with applications rather than instituting a proceeding on satellite use of terrestrial spectrum, satellite and spectrum experts told us. Hughes repeatedly pressed the agency to start such a proceeding and reject pending applications from AST SpaceMobile and Lynk Global (see 2206290004). The commission, AST and Lynk didn't comment.
Facing a growing number of partnerships that would meld satellite and terrestrial mobile coverage, the FCC is likely to continue to take an ad hoc approach with applications rather than instituting a proceeding on satellite use of terrestrial spectrum, satellite and spectrum experts told us. Hughes repeatedly pressed the agency to start such a proceeding and reject pending applications from AST SpaceMobile and Lynk Global (see 2206290004). The commission, AST and Lynk didn't comment.
The RF modules and stacked chipsets that will allow convergence of satellite and terrestrial IoT networks should be commercially available and getting deployment within the next year or so, IoT satellite system operators told us.
Canadian mental health advocates and telcos expect that country will act on establishing a three-digit suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline, with 988 being the likely number. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) should issue recommendations within weeks in its open proceeding about the feasibility of a three-digit suicide prevention number, Chairman Ian Scott emailed us. The U.S. 988 system went live nationwide in July (see 2207150036), and a variety of other nations have had similar three- and four-digit mental health hotline systems for years.
SpaceX and T-Mobile's partnering on satellite-to-cellular service is the latest competition in what's becoming an increasingly crowded market, said satellite executives and industry watchers. SpaceX and T-Mobile announced plans Thursday for SpaceX coverage, using mid-band T-Mobile PCS spectrum, to provide voice and messaging service in parts of the U.S. and territorial waters not covered by T-Mobile's network. Some see SpaceX/T-Mobile raising regulatory issues.
The U.S. hopes its drive for international agreement on a direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) testing ban will be a springboard for crafting international norms for other space operations issues, said Eric Desautels, State Department acting deputy assistant secretary-arms control, verification and compliance, Wednesday. At a conference put on by Aerospace's Center for Space Policy and Strategy and George Washington University's Space Policy Institute. Desautels said the U.S. will try to direct U.N. discussions in coming months toward establishing norms on such issues as purposeful interference with satellite command and control and ASAT testing near other countries' satellites. The U.S. committed in April to not doing direct-ascent ASAT testing (see 2204190057).
The FCC's rejection of SpaceX's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction long-form application (see 2208100050) could show agency skepticism about the satellite operator's potential that could affect how the FCC decides on any opening of the 12 GHz band to 5G, we were told. SpaceX has been one of the chief proponents of keeping the band solely for satellite use. Some proceedings watchers and participants see RDOF as separate, not having ramifications for the pending 12 GHz proceeding. The FCC and SpaceX didn't comment.
ASPEN, Colo. -- Governments’ prioritization of data localization turns out to be a bad idea in times of crisis, with vital government data one of the early Russian targets in its invasion of Ukraine, tech security experts said Tuesday at the Technology Policy Institute’s Aspen Forum. A panel on Ukrainian connectivity focused repeatedly on the need for rebuilding the country's communications networks to use providers not controlled by authoritarian regimes. Ruth Berry, acting deputy assistant secretary, State Department's Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, said there's wide agreement there's not enough diversity and resilience in the telecom network supply chain, which is why Open RAN is such an imperative.