Expect fewer deals for commercial space companies to have initial public offerings through purchase by a special purpose acquisition company because the recent SPAC IPO spate has seemingly met a lot of the investor demand, experts said in interviews this week.
Noting underwhelming back-to-school broadband adds, Altice will likely end up with 15,000 to 20,000 net broadband losses in Q3 and broadband subscriber numbers that are flat to slightly up for the year, CEO Dexter Goei said virtually Thursday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference. He said a new product set and pricing launched early this month should move the company "back to normalized trends and positive net adds" in Q4. Goei said Altice would upgrade 1.5 million homes to fiber by year-end in its footprint where it competes with Verizon. It's also weighing whether to accelerate the timetable for upgrading an additional 1.5 million homes to fiber in that overlap area, and whether other parts of Altice's network should be upgraded. He said the resignation of Chief Operating Officer Hakim Boubazine (see 2109080083) came as operating trends "have been underwhelming the last year or so." Goei's decision to assume Boubazine's duties was designed to bring issues to his attention more quickly, he said. The stock closed down 13% to $22.06.
Noting underwhelming back-to-school broadband adds, Altice will likely end up with 15,000 to 20,000 net broadband losses in Q3 and broadband subscriber numbers that are flat to slightly up for the year, CEO Dexter Goei said virtually Thursday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference. He said a new product set and pricing launched early this month should move the company "back to normalized trends and positive net adds" in Q4. Goei said Altice would upgrade 1.5 million homes to fiber by year-end in its footprint where it competes with Verizon. It's also weighing whether to accelerate the timetable for upgrading an additional 1.5 million homes to fiber in that overlap area, and whether other parts of Altice's network should be upgraded. He said the resignation of Chief Operating Officer Hakim Boubazine (see 2109080083) came as operating trends "have been underwhelming the last year or so." Goei's decision to assume Boubazine's duties was designed to bring issues to his attention more quickly, he said. The stock closed down 13% to $22.06.
With the fifth next-generation GPS III satellite launched in June, six through eight are available for launch later this year, Space Force Space Systems Command Capt. Jonathan Teer said Tuesday at a Civil GPS Service Interface Committee meeting. Thirty-seven GPS satellites are in orbit, and prototyping and planning for better future capabilities and new ground systems are constantly underway, Teer said. He said the ninth and 10th GPS III satellites are under production. He said all 17 next-gen GPS III operational control system monitoring stations were complete as of July and transition of operations to them is expected in Q4 2022.
Massachusetts needs its own rules against phone number spoofing because federal efforts fall short, legislators said Monday during a hearing of the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure. The FCC stepping up robocall enforcement “isn’t enough,” said Rep. John Barrett (D), testifying in favor of HB-312. The FCC didn’t comment. Under federal law, spoofing is allowed unless a person is doing it knowingly with intent to defraud, but "why would there be any other reason?" Barrett asked. He said scammers "were out in force" during this pandemic. He said states enacted legislation to tackle spoofing, but "they're just not doing enough at the federal level." Echoing Barrett, Rep. Tom Walsh (D) said a caller using a Massachusetts area code should be required to be within the state and have a number attributable and traceable to the calling party. The federal government “seem[s] to have been dragging their feet a little bit," he said.
The only written communications between the White House and FCC before President Joe Biden's July 9 executive order to promote tech competition (see 2107090006) were some emails the day the EO was issued between an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and an Executive Office staffer about Starks' attendance at the signing ceremony. That's per a Freedom of Information Act request we submitted to the FCC July 14. We received a 34-page response Friday, most of which was a copy of the EO provided to Starks' office in advance of the signing, plus confirmation of Starks' attendance.
The only written communications between the White House and FCC before President Joe Biden's July 9 executive order to promote tech competition (see 2107090006) were some emails the day the EO was issued between an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and an Executive Office staffer about Starks' attendance at the signing ceremony. That's per a Freedom of Information Act request we submitted to the FCC July 14. We received a 34-page response Friday, most of which was a copy of the EO provided to Starks' office in advance of the signing, plus confirmation of Starks' attendance.
The FCC got pushback from some satellite operators for creating different subcategories of non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) regulatory fees, with different fee amounts. Any challenge to that aspect of the FY 2021 regulatory fee order adopted late last month (see 2108270072) is in limbo, satellite industry officials told us last week. Industry lawyers said there's no impetus to mount a protest or rejoinder now since it seemingly won't affect payments this cycle because the fees are due later this month. Challenge to the NGSO subcategories could after the order's publication.
The satellite megaconstellation boom and growing use of small satellites won't present undue spectrum coordination challenges, though other emerging space applications could pose bigger potential problems, said Alexandre Vallet, ITU Radiocommunication Bureau's Space Services Department chief. “We may have to see how to make some room” for geostationary satellites increasingly being envisioned by nations that want to kick-start their own domestic space industry, he told a Silicon Flatirons conference Thursday.
The second-generation of OneWeb's low earth orbit broadband constellation could come with such features as lower latency and thermal imaging capabilities, OneWeb Executive Chairman Shravin Bharti Mittal said Wednesday at Satellite 2021. Appearing via livestream, Mittal said the company raised more funding than was needed for its first-gen constellation, giving it a cushion to allow it to start planning work on the second-gen. He said the first-gen constellation should provide constant coverage of northern latitudes including Alaska, Greenland and northern Russia within 60 to 90 days. He said all 648 planned satellites should be in orbit and providing global coverage by May or June 2022. Mittal and OneWeb said Wednesday the company signed an agreement with AT&T for the telco to use OneWeb capacity to improve remote coverage for businesses. Eutelsat said Wednesday it completed its $550 million OneWeb investment announced in April (see 2104270055).