LightSquared wants to open up the 1675-1680 MHz band used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for commercial wireless sharing. In a filing posted Thursday in FCC docket 12-340, the satellite company submitted an analysis it commissioned regarding NOAA's use of the band and results of a survey it conducted of end-users of NOAA data and services. LightSquared also said the FCC should issue a public notice seeking comment on the analysis, possible effects of commercial operations on non-NOAA users, and ways of addressing those effects -- all with the goal of an NPRM on the band in early 2016 regarding partial allocation of the spectrum for commercial use. That would help meet a goal in the Obama administration's 2010 memorandum pushing for the FCC and Commerce Department to jointly make 500 MHz of federal and nonfederal spectrum available for mobile and fixed wireless broadband, LightSquared said. The memo suggested a 10-year time frame. Commercial use of the spectrum would mean "lower wireless prices for consumers, more services by wireless companies and greater opportunities for innovation," LightSquared said, adding that any costs to NOAA users of getting data by alternative means "would be a small fraction of that amount." The analysis by Alion Science and Technology about the compatibility of commercial wireless with NOAA's use of the spectrum showed the two could coexist by relocating some NOAA radiosondes -- which contain atmospheric and temperature sensors and are attached to NOAA weather balloons -- and setting up protection and coordination zones, LightSquared said. The satellite company said it currently operates a network at 1670-1675 MHz, which it shares with NOAA sensor data links. LightSquared said it began talking this summer to users of NOAA data and products about potential effects. "Commercial LTE wireless operations in the 1,675-1,680 MHz band would have little or no impact on many non-NOAA users and ... reasonable alternative means exist for any users that might be impacted," LightSquared said. It said the FCC should seek input on a variety of issues, including what entities directly access NOAA data or services delivered via satellite that could feel effects of commercial transmissions over the spectrum, what other services could they employ for similar data or services, and how have they been affected by commercialization of nearby bands such as AWS-3. NOAA didn't comment.

Skynet Satellite seeks special temporary authority to do in-orbit testing of the Telstar 12V satellite. The testing is to start Dec. 1 and be done while the satellite drifts from its postlaunch location of 16 degrees west to 15.7 degrees west as it heads to its authorized slot at 15 degrees west, Skynet said in an FCC International Bureau request filed Wednesday. The testing can't be done at 15 degrees west because of risk of interfering with services carried on Telstar 12, Skynet said. Those services will be transferred to Telstar 12V after the in-orbit testing and the co-location of 12 and 12V at 15 degrees west, Skynet said. That traffic transfer is expected to be done by the end of Q1, at which time 12 will either be relocated or deorbited, Skynet said.

Intelsat and Sky Perfect JSAT agreed to jointly put up a satellite with C-band and high throughput Ku-band capacity to serve mobility and broadband connectivity demands in the Asia-Pacific region, Intelsat said in a news release Wednesday. Horizons 3e is expected to launch in the second half of 2018, operate at 169 degrees east and round out Intelsat's EpicNG global platform, Intelsat said. Horizons 3e would be the fourth satellite jointly owned by JSAT and Intelsat, following Horizons-1, Horizons-2 and Intelsat 15/JCSAT-85.

The satellite industry is in disagreement about what it says are allowable rise over thermal limits that could come with air-to-ground mobile broadband in the 14-14.5 GHz band. While Qualcomm has said such aeronautical service broadband could safely increase the rise over thermal -- the ratio between the total interference and thermal noise -- by as much as 1 percent, the safe figure that would protect fixed satellite service (FSS) uplinks is actually 0.33 percent, Intelsat and SES said in a joint FCC filing posted Tuesday in docket 13-114. The companies said the satellite industry previously indicated FSS interference from all noise sources should be capped at a 1 percent increase noise floor, going by ITU-Radiocommunication (ITU-R) recommendations, but those calculations didn't take into account additional secondary services in parts of the 14-14.5 GHz band -- tracking and data relay satellite service and federal fixed and mobile services. SpaceX in a joint letter in October with Qualcomm said it thinks Qualcomm's commitments would protect SpaceX's nongeostationary satellite system. But those calculations also failed to take into account those secondary users in the band, said Intelsat and SES. "That pact cannot change the laws of physics, the Table of Allocations or the ITU-R Recommendations." Thus any authorization of an air-to-ground mobile service in that band should follow ITU-R recommendations and give it no more than 0.33 percent rise in thermal noise, they said. Qualcomm didn't comment Wednesday. In a 2014 filing in the docket, the company said the transmit power levels already proposed by the FCC will ensure the AMS rise over thermal limits is less than 0.5 percent.

The Supreme Court shot down a pair of appeals by Dish Network and AT&T's DirecTV on how states tax their services versus how cable subscribers are taxed. The justices denied the direct-broadcast satellite (DBS) companies' petitions for certiorari Monday after meeting in conference Friday. The companies sued Tennessee Commissioner of Revenue Richard Roberts and the Massachusetts Department of Revenue over those states' tax structures: Tennessee in 2003 over its pay-TV sales tax regime, which gives cable subscribers a tax exemption on the first $15 of their bills but no such break to satellite-TV subscribers, and Massachusetts seven years later after the state enacted a satellite-only excise tax. The DBS companies filed writs of certiorari after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court sided with the state in an appeal and the Tennessee Supreme Court declined to review the case (see 1510220016).

Iridium now expects the first launches of its Next satellite constellation in April, with the constellation to be fully operational by end of 2017, CEO Matt Desch said Thursday, announcing Q3 results. The company previously said it expected the first Next launch to come in December (see 1510230011). The new launch timeframe is due to "an updated delivery schedule" from Thales Alenia Space, Desch said.

Garmin continues to voice worries on GPS interference from operations in adjacent bands. General Counsel Andrew Etkind met with FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly and with Commissioner Ajit Pai chief of staff Matthew Berry, the GPS company said in ex parte filings posted Wednesday in docket 12-340 (see here and here). Garmin said Etkind talked up a proposed Transportation Department study of adjacent band interference -- which was heavily criticized by LightSquared, which wants to operate a wireless broadband network in adjacent spectrum (see 1510160022) -- and provided copies of GPS Innovation Alliance testimony submitted earlier this month in a House Communications Subcommittee hearing on improving federal spectrum systems. In that testimony, the GPSIA said using satellite spectrum for broadband poses big technical challenges since mobile broadband uplink transmissions "can be billions of times stronger" than low-power transmissions such as used by a Global Navigation Satellite System, and "attempts to attribute GNSS interference issues mainly to poor receiver design are misguided." GPSIA also said receiver regulation would "impede innovation," and "a more straightforward approach" would be to group similar spectrum uses together -- "a 'zoning' approach to spectrum management as opposed to a 'good fences make good neighbors' approach that requires the FCC to engage in extensive rule making and standards development." For GPS, GPSIA said, that would mean "avoiding authorization of high powered uses in this band now or in the future."

Scripps Network Interactive and SES signed a deal to expand and move Scripps' North American distribution platform to a pair of SES space stations near the center of the orbital arc over North America, the satellite company said in a news release Wednesday. According to SES, SES-1 at 101 degrees west will deliver Scripps's HD content, while SES-3 at 103 degrees west will help in distribution of standard definition feeds.

Harmonic continues to see “encouraging signs” that the Ultra HD market “is slowly gaining momentum,” CEO Patrick Harshman said on a Tuesday earnings call. Ultra HD TV sales “continue to grow” and H.265-compatible set-tops “are starting to be deployed,” he said. “We expect this market momentum to continue to build, while we continue to demonstrate superior picture quality at lower bit rates than our closest competitors, which in turn is enabling us to assemble a growing pipeline of new Ultra HD opportunities.” Harmonic’s partnership with NASA to launch North America’s first linear Ultra HD channel “is generating quite a bit of interest among our customers,” he said. The channel is available as a test and is on track to go “fully live” Sunday, he said.

Eutelsat ordered a high-throughput satellite from Thales Alenia Space as part of its effort to bring broadband connectivity services to Africa, it said in a news release Wednesday. The satellite, using Thales' new Spacebus Neo platform, will launch in 2019 with the aim of providing at least 75 Gbps of capacity across a 65-spotbeam network, Eutelsat said. The satellite follows a joint announcement by Eutelsat and Facebook earlier this month that they plan to use Spacecom's AMOS-6 satellite to jointly provide broadband in much of Sub-Saharan Africa (see 1510050037).