Verizon's plans to use C-band spectrum terrestrially starting in Q1 2023 in some markets poses "a profound risk of harmful interference" to incumbent satellite users, Eutelsat CEO Eva Berneke told FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington in a series of meetings recapped Wednesday in docket 18-122. Eutelsat urged the agency to issue a framework for satellite operators to certify completion of the second phase of the C-band accelerated relocation process, as terrestrial transmissions in the band pose a threat to any unfiltered earth stations. In docket 20-173, Telesat said the C-band relocation coordinator is requesting that Telesat and other eligible satellite operators transition a percentage of antennas/feeds that hadn't been associated with any particular operator as they're discovered in the operator outreach program. Telesat said it has been transitioning its assigned share and working on transition of some antennas/feeds the relocation coordinator identified as pointing at Telesat satellites but not receiving signals from them.

Comments are due Jan. 12 to the Copyright Royalty Board on a proposed further partial distribution of 2015-2017 satellite royalty funds for DBS retransmission of over-the-air broadcasts, per a notice in Tuesday's Federal Register.

OneWeb ordered 10,000 Hughes-made flat-panel LEO Terminals for use by enterprise and government customers of OneWeb's satellite broadband, Hughes said Tuesday. It said testing of prototypes is underway, with production of the terminals for OneWeb to start in the second half of 2023.

As part of its partnership with T-Mobile to provide satellite-to-cellular service (see 2208260038), SpaceX asked the FCC for U.S. market access for its German-licensed direct-to-cellular hosted payloads to communicate on an unprotected, noninterference basis in the 1910-1915 MHz and 1990-1995 MHz bands with mobile handsets already authorized to use those PCS G-block frequencies. In an International Bureau application Tuesday, SpaceX said its satellite-to-handset cellular operations will meet broadband PCS service technical limits "and thus will be indistinguishable from terrestrial PCS G-block operations from an interference perspective. "The system will merely put already assigned spectrum to more intensive use by allowing it to be received in locations where it cannot be received today," SpaceX said. It said the direct-to-cellular payload will be aboard a 2,016-satellite subset of the second-generation non-geostationary orbit constellation. It said the payload will support text messaging, voice service and basic web browsing over three to four 1.4 MHz bandwidth channels or one 5 MHz channel, both for downlinks and uplinks. It requested a waiver to use the 1910-1915 MHz and 1990-1995 MHz bands since they lack a satellite allocation under the U.S. Table of Frequency Allocations.

Since its planned purchase by Astrocast fell through, Hiber asked to withdraw FCC applications tied to that, it told the International Bureau Monday. Last month Astrocast told investors the acquisition announced in May (see 2205310003) was terminated by reaching the Nov. 30 long stop date. "Due to challenging market conditions for fundraising the last six months, the liquidity for the Company has been tight," Astrocast said. It said it had been funding existing operations through convertible notes and it "will continue to assess strategic alternatives for strengthening its financial position on a long-term basis." Astrocast said because the Hiber deal fell through, Hiber "is claiming an obligation for Astrocast to grant a convertible loan" of $1.57 million supposedly due pursuant to the Astrocast/Hiber agreement. Astrocast said Hiber is referring the convertible loan grant to mediation and dispute resolution in arbitration under the provisions of the agreement. Astrocast said it disputes the Hiber claim.

2021 was a robust year for space venture capital, but 2022 has a "more challenging environment," with VC investment trending downward quarter after quarter, said Maureen Haverty, Seraphim Space vice president-investment, in a Space Tech Expo webinar Tuesday. She said early-stage and seed-stage investing are "holding on pretty well," but growth investment is taking a hit. She said deals in growth investment are faring better in the U.S. than in Europe, which doesn't have a strong growth investment scene in space anyway, while the U.S. investment community has more risk tolerance. Haverty said growth investors have traditionally focused on revenue and profitability, but 2021 was an anomaly where investors were more liberal in their standards. "Now the standards have returned," and companies seeking VC investment need to focus on revenue and profitability, she said. Ali Baghchehsara, president of space propulsion startup Plasmos, said the investment environment will likely remain more challenging for a while. He said for companies seeking funding, the focus needs to be on having a simple story and on achieving milestones to demonstrate progress.

The 18.8-19.3 GHz and 28.6-29.1 GHz band segments are used by at least six other geostationary orbit satellite operators, and that use has gone on for years without interfering with non-geostationary systems, Viasat CEO Mark Dankberg told FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, per a docket 21-456 filing posted Monday. That compatibility comes by avoiding in-line interference through angular separation between NGSO operations and the GSO arc, Viasat said. It urged the FCC to ensure GSO operators continue to have access to the bands as it looks at updating its NGSO fixed satellite service sharing rules.

E-Space expects to close by the end of January on Wireless Telecom Group's developer of embedded signal processing and RF modules, CommAgility, the satellite startup said Monday. E-Space said adding the nonterrestrial networks source code into its capabilities will speed up its payload and customer use case development.

OneWeb's next batch of satellites, scheduled for launch Tuesday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will let it expand service and begin offering coverage between the South Pole and 35th parallel South, opening up connectivity services in southern Australia, South Africa and parts of South America, it said Friday. The scheduled launch of the 40 non-geostationary orbit satellites would be OneWeb's 15th.

Sunsetting non-geostationary orbit satellite protections by condensing processing rounds over time without the loss of interference protection rights for earlier rounds could encourage NGSO innovation and competition, Intelsat representatives told FCC International Bureau staffers per a docket 21-456 filing Friday. Intelsat said sunsetting shouldn't mean later-round licensees can interfere with earlier-round ones or that it puts earlier- and later-round systems on equal footing for coordination. It said it doesn't support sunsetting licenses or interference protections. The sunsetting provision in the NGSO spectrum sharing NPRM adopted in December has been an area of contention (see 2203280029).