With the Samtex 5 satellite moving to a different orbital location, Row 44 seeks FCC International Bureau approval to shift its earth stations aboard aircraft (ESAA) operations to the AMC-1 satellite. The company said in an IB filing posted Friday that instead of the 100 aeronautical mobile earth stations (AMES) it's authorized to use with AMC-1, it needs special temporary authority to boost that number to up to 300 for 60 days, starting by Nov. 2. The AMC-1 operations would be in the Ku-band, using 11.7-12.2 GHz for downlink and 14-14.5 GHz for uplink, Row 44 said. That filing is in conjunction with an application filed last month seeking permanent modification of its ESAA license to use AMC-1 as a point of communication.

Comments on potential ground-path interference rules for 17/24 GHz reverse band broadcasting satellite service (BSS) operations are due Nov. 25, replies Dec. 10, the FCC said in a notice in Monday's Federal Register. The International Bureau said earlier this month it was soliciting fresh comment in docket 06-123 on proposed rules to mitigate what it saw as potentially increasing interference in populated areas with 17/24 GHz reverse band BSS subscriber antennas (see 1510080043).

Gogo wants to add 10 satellites to its blanket license to operate Ku-band earth stations aboard aircraft (ESAA), the satellite company said in an FCC International Bureau filing posted Thursday. The requested satellites to be added as points of communication are AMC-1, Galaxy 17, Intelsat 18, Eutelsat 115 West B, Eutelsat 117 West A, JCSAT-2B, JCSAT-5A, Yamal 500K, Yamal 401 and AsiaSat 7, Gogo said. It no longer will use Satmex-5, and that can be removed from its license, Gogo said. Its ESAA operations "are consistent with the coordination agreements between the satellites ... and operators of adjacent spacecraft," Gogo said. In connection with that application, Gogo filed a separate submission Thursday seeking special temporary authority -- starting by Nov. 6 and running for 60 days -- to allow up to 200 ESAA terminals to communicate with Eutelsat 115 West B and Eutelsat 117 West A. That would allow it to continue servicing flights over North and South America during Satmex-5's replacement and relocation, Gogo said.

Iridium wants approval to allow Harris receive-only hosted payloads onto its Next satellite constellation, the company said in an FCC International Bureau filing posted Thursday. The Harris hosted payloads would be capable of receiving across the 156.0125-162.0375 MHz maritime VHF band from existing ship-based transmitter, with the signals then being downlinked to Iridium earth stations and transported to a Harris facility, Iridium said. The hosted payload would allow "deployment of a robust VHF Automatic Identification System and maritime domain awareness system" for government and commercial customers, and poses no risk of additional interference, Iridium said. The satellite company said testing of Next payloads is underway and it expects the first launches for its communications satellite constellation in December, though the first space vehicle including the Harris hosted payload would be the second Next launch, slated for April, and then on each subsequent Next launch.

O3b is seeking FCC International Bureau approval to expand its maritime earth station tests and commercial operations to up to 30 more foreign-flagged ships, it said in an IB filing posted Wednesday. The waiver would follow a variety of licenses and waivers the satellite company received in 2014 to operate maritime earth stations on U.S.- and foreign-flagged ships that communicate with its nongeostationary fixed satellite service system, O3b said. The 30-ship waiver would be for ships on routes that include the U.S. East Coast and Gulf of Mexico, and transmit on the 27.6-28.4 GHz band and receive in the 17.8-18.6 GHz band, it said. The company also asked the waiver be granted by year's end "to ensure timely initiation of service."

Arianespace signed a variety of extensions to its ground service contracts for operation of the Guiana Space Center launch complexes, the company said Wednesday. The three-year extensions will run through the end of 2019 and cover maintenance and operation of ground facilities, it said. The contract extensions are part of the competitiveness plan it initiated in 2014, it said.

ViaSat wants to add the 28.1-28.35 GHz uplink band to its aeronautical earth station blanket license, it said in an FCC International Bureau filing posted Wednesday. ViaSat said its current Ka-band license authorizes use of frequencies including 28.35-291 GHz and 29.5-30 GHz for uplinks and 18.3-19.3 GHz and 19.7-20.2 GHz for downlinks. The application to add 28.1-28.35 GHz would be for the aeronautical earth stations' operations with ViaSat-1 at 115.1 degrees west, ViaSat said. The company said the additional band is needed to meet growing demand for its in-flight connectivity services.

Intelsat will pay a $12,000 fine to resolve an FCC investigation into whether the satellite company improperly let another take its place in the line for reviewing satellite authorization applications, the Enforcement Bureau said in an order posted Wednesday. The investigation began in 2011, after Intelsat applied for a license to operate a new Ka-band satellite and then sold to ViaSat rights to operate a Ka-band satellite in the location for which Intelsat had applied for the license, the bureau said. The agency issued a notice of apparent liability (NAL) in 2013 (see 1312160053), carrying with it a possible $112,500 fine. Under the order, along with that smaller fine, Intelsat also will craft in the next 60 days a compliance plan "designed to ensure further compliance with the Satellite Queue Transfer Rule," including a compliance manual and employee compliance training. The order said it also cancels the NAL.

The FCC should require SpaceX to prove it can meet the experimental radio service non-interference criteria, because the company's latest submission on its planned microsatellite test "does little to address (concerns) about co-frequency interference," Intelsat said in an Office of Engineering and Technology filing posted Wednesday. SpaceX and Intelsat have spent months debating SpaceX plans for a satellite test in advance of a low earth orbit constellation (see 1510080038). While the submission clears up worries about collision avoidance, Intelsat said, the question remains whether SpaceX "can reasonably be expected to operate on a non-interference basis with respect to co-frequency (geosynchronous) operations." SpaceX hasn't addressed Intelsat calculations that its space-to-earth transmissions could increase the earth station receiver noise floor by almost 24 percent, and the data it submitted on transmit antenna radiation patterns "are near irrelevant" to assessing that interference, Intelsat said. Incumbent fixed satellite service (FSS) operators could use that data to run interference simulations, but "each incumbent FSS operator should not have to spend considerable time and resources determining the risk of interference posed by an experimental license application," it said.

Having already asked for FCC International Bureau approval to drift Intelsat 805 to 169 degrees east (see 1510050006), Intelsat now seeks modification of the satellite's authorization that would let it operate there, as well as an extension of the license term through Dec. 31, 2019. In an IB filing posted Tuesday, Intelsat said Intelsat 805 will co-locate with Intelsat 8, which will "be relocated slightly ... after some of its traffic has transitioned to Intelsat 805." Intelsat 805 was launched in 1998 and its license term is to expire July 18, Intelsat said.