Intelsat got permission to modify its Intelsat 5 satellite to specify operations and extend the license term through Dec. 31, 2020, an order from the FCC on Friday said. The company can also conduct telemetry, tracking and command operations necessary to maintain the space station's orbital location, the order said.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York City approved LightSquared’s reorganization plan Thursday, allowing the company to move forward with its plan to end its Chapter 11 bankruptcy trial and repay its top creditors. The plan, presented to Judge Shelley Chapman earlier this month, means certain creditors will received $400 million in cash, with $320 million going to SPSO, which is controlled by Dish Network CEO Charles Ergen. Any notes offered to creditors will be paid off over a five-year period. LightSquared would leave bankruptcy under the control of Centerbridge Partners and Fortress Investment Group (see 1503100066). LightSquared CEO Doug Smith said in a statement: “This has been a long journey, and today's ruling will allow us to emerge from Chapter 11 well-capitalized and better positioned to achieve our goals.”
The FCC should file the results to proceedings on the terrestrial low-power service demonstrations held at the agency’s Technology Experience Center in March, said Gerst Capital in a letter posted Wednesday in docket 13-213. Those TLPS measurement results should include resolution bandwidth, video bandwidth, center frequency and frequency span, Gerst said. The measurements are required to “validate Globalstar’s claim that all devices will only require ‘firmware modifications’ to support TLPS,” the letter said. It said the measurements could impair channel 14/TLPS, which would bring the claim into question. If the problem does exist at the access point, it will exist for almost any LTE-enabled smartphone, too, Gerst said. Globalstar has said Gerst is a short-seller that profits from creating doubt, and defended its tests (see 1503230030).
EchoStar's legal and operating name for Solaris Mobile is now EchoStar Mobile, said the company in a news release Wednesday. It changed the name of that subsidiary to align the company with the entire group of EchoStar companies.
Inmarsat transitioned its key voice and broadband data services for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region to Alphasat overnight Tuesday, said Inmarsat in a news release Wednesday. The transition includes four of Inmarsat’s mobile satellite communication services including BGAN, Classic Aero, FleetBroadband and SwiftBroadband. Alphasat and I-4 F2 will continue to jointly provide services over the EMEA region until the transition of the last two services -- L-TAC1 and IsatData Pro2 -- scheduled to be completed by the end of Q2, Inmarsat said. Then, I-4 F2 will be moved to a new orbital position to create a fourth L-band region, serving the Middle East and Asia. The new region is to begin commercial services by the end of the year and will support BGAN, FleetBroadband, SwiftBroadband and GSPS services, the company said.
Intelsat's credit rating was cut to B from B+ by Standard & Poor's, which cited in a Monday announcement the fixed satellite service provider's "continued challenges in network services and government revenue." The company's Q4 revenue fell in those areas (see 1502180015).
Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) again said demonstrations show terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) interferes significantly with Bluetooth devices, in an FCC filing posted Monday in docket 13-213. Globalstar said broadband TLPS “is a good neighbor” to Wi-Fi operations on IEEE 802.11 channel 11 and other channels (see 1503230030). Bluetooth SIG said it's suspicious of the conclusion from Globalstar's Bluetooth speaker test, which was reported to show clear audio quality, considering the SIG's finding in a Bluetooth speaker test without TLPS that the audio quality was poor, the filing said. Bluetooth SIG said it became clear during recent demos (see 1503190025) that all the access points had a very low level of traffic when compared with the maximum possible for those points. It said specific media files were used by those operating the TLPS setup for the Bluetooth demos, which may have produced a lower level of traffic. "These limited demonstrations prove that there should be significant concern about the interference caused by TLPS on Bluetooth communications," said a Bluetooth SIG spokeswoman. "There were other demonstrations that we had prepared but were unable to conduct due to the facilities provided and we believe that these other demonstrations would also have shown the effect of TLPS interference." Bluetooth had two days to set up and test its products before the demonstration and only decided to demo two devices, even though the company brought others, said Barbee Ponder, vice president-regulatory affairs for Globalstar. "Bluetooth's claim that they didn't have enough time or space is absurd," he said. "They could have returned Monday and Tuesday of the following week for the continuation of the demonstration but decided not to do so." Ponder said Globalstar demonstrated that four different mainstream BlueTooth-enabled devices worked flawlessly and simultaneously with all three public Wi-Fi channels and TLPS operating in the FCC's Technology Experience Center.
The Supreme Court granted DirecTV’s motion for cert appealing a California Second District Court of Appeals decision on a class-action lawsuit brought against the company over early termination fees, the high court’s website said. DirecTV had sought to have the litigation dismissed in favor of arbitration but the U.S. district and appeals courts ruled that despite a customer agreement that compelled arbitration, the plaintiffs could bring a class-action lawsuit against the satellite carrier.
The Texas Department of Information Resources gave EchoStar-owned Hughes Network Systems an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract for data communications, networking equipment and related services, the company said Monday. Hughes will provide digital signage through applications like Digital Bulletin Boards, Breakroom TV and interactive kiosks, and provide a statewide learning management system from its HughesON Digital Media Solutions suite. The initial contract lasts two years, with the option to extend for two more one-year terms, Hughes said. “By leveraging digital signage in combination with learning management, the state can deliver educational and logistical information wherever it's needed via a powerful video-based system,” Hughes Vice President-Government Relations Tony Bardo said in a news release. “This contract vehicle also complements our existing contract with Texas DIR, on which we offer satellite broadband to rural schools and agencies, further adding depth and breadth to our educational technology offerings.”
Globalstar's broadband terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) "is a good neighbor" to Wi-Fi operations on IEEE 802.11 Channel 11 and other channels and Bluetooth device operations within an unlicensed band at 2400-2483.5 MHz, the company said. It cited a recently completed TLPS demonstration at the agency's Technology Experience Center, in a filing Friday in docket 13-213. Bluetooth, cable and other interests have criticized that demo (see 1503190025). "Globalstar’s demonstration showed that Bluetooth-enabled devices, including a heart rate monitor, wireless speaker, and various computer mouses, worked without any service impact in the presence of TLPS," said the filing on the satellite company's meeting with an aide to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai. "Consumers will benefit significantly from the provision of TLPS across 22 megahertz of additional broadband spectrum in the 2.4 GHz band." Globalstar said it seeks adoption of the commission's proposed TLPS rules.