Intelsat sought FCC special temporary authority to use a variety of its Ku-band earth stations for telemetry, tracking and command services for its Galaxy 11 satellite as it drifts from 55.6 degrees west to 60.1 degrees east. The drift is expected to start no earlier than Nov. 15, with the drift taking six months, Intelsat said in International Bureau filings posted Monday (see here, here and here). Intelsat said it plans to use its Castle Rock, Colorado; Ellenwood, Georgia; and Hagerstown, Maryland, earth stations for the drift tracking and command. The drift is to help meet temporary customer demand at 60.1 degrees, Intelsat said.

Iridium Communications made its first voice and data ground-test call over its Certus broadband network being carried on its Next satellite constellation, it said Tuesday. Iridium said the voice and data call was the first combined use of the capabilities of three Certus components: the broadband satellite terminal, Next and upgraded capabilities in the company's terrestrial gateway. Certus will introduce an initial data speed of 352 kbps and a voice codec which will operate at twice the current bit rate of Iridium’s current generation offerings, and eventually will allow data speeds as high as 1.4 Mbps for a single user terminal once Next is fully deployed, Iridium said. It has said it expects Next to begin commercial service late in 2016, and said Tuesday that Certus will start beta testing as Next satellites come online.

Stifling competition is the real reason behind the Wi-Fi Alliance's opposition to Globalstar's proposed terrestrial low-power service (TLPS), Globalstar said in an FCC ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 13-213. It responded to a Wi-Fi Alliance filing posted Thursday in which it said Globalstar's interoperability tests were inadequate and the proceeding should be closed (see 1510160032). On the contrary, Globalstar said, it "has focused on and performed all of the technical work necessary to demonstrate that TLPS is compatible with other unlicensed services." While the Wi-Fi Alliance was invited to take part in testing, the group observed bits of a Globalstar demonstration at the FCC Technology Experience Center in March and didn't attend lab testing, the company said: "The Alliance continues its strategy of complaining from afar without adding any meaningful evidence to the record." Along with testing its TLPS in Chicago over the summer, Globalstar said it also deployed it in a District of Columbia middle school. "Given the tremendous potential consumer benefits that TLPS offers ... why is the Alliance now demanding that the FCC end this proceeding?" Globalstar asked. "The only parties that would gain from terminating this proceeding are, unsurprisingly, the entrenched and powerful members of the Alliance who seek to prevent an innovative alternative to their own service offerings." Wi-Fi Alliance didn't comment.

Space Systems/Loral and Intelsat will partner to provide a communications satellite and satellite services to Azerbaijani satellite operator Azercosmos, SSL said Tuesday. The satellite -- Azercosmos' second -- is to sit at 45 degrees east and provide direct-to-home, government and network service to Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, it said. The satellite -- Azerspace-2/Intelsat 38 -- also will provide continuity of service for Intelsat 12 at 45 degrees east, SSL said. The satellite is scheduled for a 2017 launch, SSL said.

LightSquared is readying its post-bankruptcy regulatory steps, as Reed Hundt -- representing the satellite company -- talked about pending transfer of control applications and its LTE plans in a phone conversation with Chairman Tom Wheeler's senior counselor Philip Verveer, according to an ex parte filing to be posted in docket 12-340. According to the filing, Hundt, a former FCC chairman, "emphasized the need for prompt Commission action on the pending applications and the company’s desire when New LightSquared emerges from bankruptcy to put its midband spectrum at work." The call also covered LightSquared's legal and spectrum clash with GPS firms Deere, Garmin and Trimble and negotiations to end those fights (see 1510090042), the company said.

Furuno Electric will be marketing Iridium Communications satellite services and products in Japan, including offerings for the Iridium Next satellite constellation, under a deal announced by Iridium Monday. Furuno also will develop part of its satellite communications service portfolio with Iridium.

Russound certified installers now have access to SiriusXM for Business, Russound said at a CEDIA news conference in Dallas. The program simplifies the process for commercial venues to play licensed music without a significant expense or “complicated reporting,” Russound said. CEO Charlie Porritt noted that playing music for the public is subject to numerous legal provisions related to copyright law, and that most music purchased through downloads or physical media is licensed only for personal use. “Many business owners find themselves liable for any related violations, even if they are unaware of the requirements,” Porritt said. With a SiriusXM for Business account, business owners have access to all of the content they need for $360 per year, with no further reporting requirements, when they use authorized Russound music streaming products, the company said.

Globalstar's test proving Wi-Fi interoperability with its terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) "falls far short of what might reasonably be expected in a meaningful test," and the FCC should close the proceeding, the Wi-Fi Alliance said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 13-213. While the satellite company has repeatedly pointed to testing it conducted over the summer as demonstrating that its private Wi-Fi channel in the 2.4 GHz band would relieve overall Wi-Fi congestion (see 1510140072 and 1509110018), the test had numerous flaws, the alliance said. They include only using enterprise-class access points, even though most deployed access points are consumer grade, not enterprise class, so the test is useless at predicting the effect on most Wi-Fi devices, the group said. It said the demonstration report also omits key data regarding such issues as power levels for the access points operating on Wi-Fi channels 1, 6 and 11 and TLPS operations on channel 14; as well as load factors for the Wi-Fi and TLPS channels. Accusing Globalstar of doing more demonstrations rather than "cooperative, fully-transparent testing," the alliance said it "has no one but itself to blame for the broader industry's inability make a meaningful assessment of Globalstar's system." Globalstar didn't comment.

EchoStar wants 180 more days to move EchoStar 15 to 61.65 degrees west to use as backup capacity for Dish Network, the satellite company said in an FCC International Bureau filing Wednesday. EchoStar said it has been operating at 45 degrees west to provide broadcast satellite service to Brazil, but received a 30-day special temporary authorization in September to provide backup capacity to Dish. That move to 61.65 degrees west is expected to run through Nov. 16, at which point the satellite company said it expects to operate EchoStar 15 in the short term. If approved, the special temporary authorizations would extend to April 29.

If the current two-degree satellite spacing policy stays, the FCC should at least retain existing power limits because increasing them would only worsen interference, Intelsat said in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 12-267. The ex parte letter highlighted a meeting between Intelsat and International Bureau representatives. Intelsat has largely spearheaded efforts aimed at eliminating the two-degree spacing rule, arguing it should not apply to new bands (see 1508100064).