ViaSat's satellite-based residential broadband service offers speeds of up to 100 Mbps and unlimited data plans, the company said Tuesday, unveiling the service. The service comes from the company's ViaSat-2 satellite, and it has plans at 12 Mbps, 25 Mbps, 30 Mbps, 50 Mbps and 100 Mbps nationwide. It plans ViaSat-2 services for business and government, plus commercial and business aircraft in-flight connectivity. It said its first ViaSat-3 satellite, which will offer 1 Tbps network capacity, is expected to go into service in 2020 in the Americas, to be followed with a second satellite months later for Europe, Middle East and Africa coverage, and with a third ViaSat-3 planned for Asia-Pacific.
S&P downgraded Dish Network to a B from B+, citing in part the “substantial subscriber losses” the company reported last week in its direct broadcast satellite business, said a Monday update. Dish had 9.4 percent fewer satellite subscribers Dec. 31 than a year earlier, while Sling TV subscriptions rose 47.4 percent (see 1802210043). Though “certain scenarios” involving Dish’s plans “to monetize spectrum investments could be credit positive longer term, such as a leasing agreement, rating upside is limited over the next year,” said S&P. Dish representatives didn’t comment. Dish shares closed 1.1 percent higher Monday at $44.95.
Self-described "private space agency" SpaceChain put its first blockchain node satellite into orbit, it said Friday. It said SpaceChain uses an open-source platform that allows developers anywhere to design apps that can employ orbital communications capabilities. It said it plans to launch two more low earth orbit satellites this year.
A tech industry-backed study showing Wi-Fi can coexist with primary users in the 5.925-7.125 GHz band (see 1801260043) fails to show mid-band use by terrestrial services won't raise the risk of unacceptable interference in the 7.025-7.075 GHz band to Sirius XM's feeder links, the company told International Bureau members, according to a docket 17-183 ex parte filing posted Thursday. It said it's preparing its own analysis of interference risks to the Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS) feeder link frequencies that will be submitted when done. Sirius said its own initial review of the tech industry study found analysis defects that call into question the conclusions -- for example, no analysis of potential interference specific to the SDARS' unique characteristics. The tech industry study also focuses only on aggregate interference from terrestrial services to the satellite-received signal quality, ignoring the possibility a meaningful number of terrestrial devices located near Sirius XM feeder link sites on the ground could interfere with SDARS fleet uplinks. It said it doesn't object to sharing its feeder link spectrum with fixed service licensees since that makes coordination with Sirius feeder link sites possible. Outside counsel for the tech companies didn't comment Friday.
DirecTV should discontinue some advertised claims about its DBS service, the National Advertising Division (NAD) said Thursday. It said Charter Communications challenged claims in five print and online ads, including multiple claims of "worry-free signal reliability." NAD said DirecTV indicated it plans to appeal.
United Airlines will install ViaSat's in-flight entertainment and connectivity system on more than 70 aircraft, including at least 58 of its Boeing 737MAX aircraft, ViaSat said Thursday.
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology granted special temporary authority to Globalstar and Harris for an experimental cubesat mission. According to approvals (see here and here) granted Friday, Harris will do S-band downlinks using a Globalstar GSP-1700 duplex transmitter. Harris said the point of the mission is assessing radiation mitigation techniques and the performance of a broad-bandwidth deployable antenna specifically designed for cubesats and the effective coverage of Harris' downlink, uplink and payload experiment data communications. Globalstar said the cubesat mission will be about six months, and Harris will notify the FCC of the dates of the operation once established.
Global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals and the satellites themselves are vulnerable to "steadily evolving" threats of accidental and deliberate interference and cyberattack, the U.K. Government Office of Science reported Tuesday. Noting heavy and growing reliance on GNSS, it said the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Ofcom should keep addressing interference risks to GNSS-dependent users when allocating spectrum to new services and applications. It said critical national infrastructure operators should make provisions for the loss of GNSS by using GNSS-independent back-up systems.
ViaSat wants FCC International Bureau approval to operate two aircraft-mounted earth station antennas to provide broadband service via its ViaSat-2 satellite. An application Tuesday sought approval for the Mantarray M40 antenna and the Global Mantarray GM40 antenna. The company said ViaSat-2 is expected to start commercial service in Q1 and that granting the application would allow for broader in-flight connectivity service provision.
Streaming service Spider TV, being sued by Dish Network for copyright infringement (see 1801190004), told us Sunday it closed its company in the U.S. a "long time ago" and, with its main focus on Europe and the Middle East, it doesn't need the U.S. market.