LightSquared and the FCC are discussing possible solutions to GPS/LTE compatibility worries about "concepts of flexible use," LightSquared said in an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 12-340. According to the filing, Reed Hundt -- representing LightSquared in the meeting with Office of Strategic Planning & Policy Analysis Chief Jonathan Chambers and Senior Economist Evan Kwerel and with Policy & Rules Division Deputy Chief Michael Ha -- also said "market-based mechanisms" for retrofitting existing devices are a route to protection of the Global Navigation Satellite System band.

The FCC should take a new look at service designations in the 27.5-38.35 GHz band because technology and market changes have shown that satellite operators deserve co-primary status there, said the Satellite Industry Association in a filing posted Monday in docket 14-177. That co-primary designation "would provide satellite operators much-needed certainty that their investments in significant earth station facilities will be protected against the impacts of terrestrial operations in the band," SIA said. With the FCC looking at modifying the parameters for terrestrial use in that band and opening it up for 5G mobile services, the agency should also look at means of guaranteeing fixed satellite services (FSS) access to the spectrum, because they already use it for earth station uplinks without any interference to local multipoint distribution services, SIA said. The FCC also should revisit its "dated assumptions" on other FSS earth station terminals operating in the band to ascertain what -- if any -- techniques or technologies now exist that could let FSS earth station uplinks operate in the band without interfering with terrestrial networks, SIA said.

Globalstar is again prodding the FCC to approve its plans for a private Wi-Fi channel for broadband terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) in the 2.4 GHz band. The agency has everything it needs, and the nearly two-year delay in approval "only postpones the enormous consumer benefits of TLPS," the company said in an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 13-213. It recapped a meeting between Globalstar representatives including General Counsel Barbee Ponder and a variety of Office of Engineering and Technology, International Bureau and Wireless Bureau staff. Globalstar repeated its latest case for approval (see 1509110018), including the details of a recent TLPS test in Chicago, the terms of its TLPS mitigation practices, and its pledge not to use LTE-U in the 2.4 GHz band until the agency allows LTE-U deployment in unlicensed spectrum. Even if TLPS were approved immediately, it would "take some time for Globalstar to deploy TLPS access points and for consumer devices to be able to receive TLPS on a widespread basis, given the need to finalize production model access points and modify existing client devices to operate on Channel 14," the company said, adding that "the sooner the Commission adopts rules permitting TLPS, the sooner the American public will enjoy the substantial public interest benefits of this service." But the Hearing Loss Association of America in a filing also posted Friday said Globalstar "has not submitted testing that demonstrates its will not interfere with hearing aids and assistive devices." The organization said the FCC should require more testing by Globalstar, and submit those results publicly, before any approval. "Hearing aids and hearing aid accessories now have functionality that depends on interaction with smartphones and computers," the group said "That functionality, in turn, requires using technologies in the unlicensed frequency bands. The Commission must exercise caution that the advances that people with hearing loss have made under accessibility laws is not undermined by failure to adequately test Globalstar’s proposed service."

Eutelsat and Facebook plan to use Spacecom's forthcoming AMOS-6 satellite as the foundation for joint plan to provide broadband services to much of Sub-Saharan Africa, Eutelsat said in a Monday news release. AMOS-6 is to launch by year end, and Eutelsat and Facebook will share its entire broadband capacity as part of the dedicated system they planned, which also includes gateways and terminals that would provide community and direct-to-user Internet, Eutelsat said. The companies will provide a variety of fixed and mobile Internet services, the satellite company said. Eutelsat said it's establishing a London-based company -- headed by former Tiscali International Network CEO Laurent Grimaldi -- to oversee its African broadband plans and business targeting the premium and professional segments.

Intelsat plans to drift its Intelsat 805 satellite from 55.5 degrees west to 169 degrees east, the company said in an FCC International Bureau filing Friday. The drift -- subject to FCC approval -- is expected to start Dec. 1 and take roughly three months, Intelsat said. The relocation follows the transfer of traffic to its recently launched Intelsat 34, and Intelsat 8 -- currently at 169 degrees east -- will be relocated, with FCC approval, the company said.

Inmarsat is using multiple SpectralNet systems from Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in its L-band Tacsat (L-TAC) mobile satellite communications system, Kratos said Thursday. L-TAC enables "a UHF-like satellite capability" for use with UHF tactical radios, while using SpectraNet allows extension of L-TAC services to different satellites by digitizing RF signals for carriage on IP networks, Kratos said.

LightSquared revised its LTE/GPS interference test plan in the face of suggestions that the plan lacked any indication the testing would look at possible impacts to public safety, the company said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 12-340. The revised Roberson and Associates test plan also took steps to ensure wide-area augmentation systems (WAAS) also "are appropriately taken into account," LightSquared said. It said some devices -- such as public safety devices -- might be included in testing at -10dBm LTE power as part of a second round of data collection. Public safety devices also will be included in reacquisition testing in which the devices will be locked onto a GPS signal that then is turned off for several minutes, then restored, with the test then timing how long it takes to relock onto GPS in the presence of a strong LTE signal and without one, LightSquared said. The revised test plan also adds "Time to First Fix" testing with WAAS and some revisions to the test setups for different classes of GPS receivers. The revisions follow criticisms last month by the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council last month (see 1509100013). LightSquared said its details and proposed device list "continue to be refined and are thus subject to further revision."

Arsat signed a contract with Arianespace to have it launch the ARSAT-3 geostationary communications satellite in 2019, with options for two subsequent launches, the launch company said Thursday. ARSAT-3's launch would follow the 2014 launch of ARSAT-1 and Wednesday's launch of ARSAT-2.

Don't expect to see many mergers or acquisitions in the satellite industry despite the benefits of such consolidation, Intelsat Chief Financial Officer Michael McDonnell said Tuesday at a Deutsche Bank's investor conference. The few such M&A transactions in the industry -- such as Eutelsat's 2014 takeover of SatMex -- sometimes come with high price tags, and many smaller operators' governments aren't as interested in consolidation as their owners, McDonnell said. He declined to address directly what he called rumors of Intelsat considering a sale of some assets, except to say its satellite fleet is designed so most of them carry a variety of customer sets and they are supported by a common platform. "We don't really have any assets we consider to be non-core," McDonnell said. While the company's network services revenue has been declining in recent years, its high-throughput Epic satellite platform going online next year opens the door to expansion into markets such as connected cars and IoT and "is our path back to growth," McDonnell said. The company has four launches planned for 2016 -- Intelsat 31 and 29e in Q1 and 33e and 36 in the second half of the year -- and most of its satellites planned in coming years are Epics, he said.

Looking to increase service to airline passengers over the Caribbean, North America and the Pacific, Row 44 seeks FCC International Bureau approval to modify its existing Ku-band Earth Stations Aboard Aircraft license to add a satellite -- AMC-1 at 129.15 degrees west -- as a point of communication. In its IB application filed Monday, the in-flight broadband and entertainment provider said it expects to start service on AMC-1 as soon as possible. SES, which operates AMC-1, hasn't signed a coordination agreement with SkyPerfect JSAT for that company's Horizons-1 -- the only other Ku-band fixed satellite service satellite operating in the same bands, Row 44 said. In a separate IB application filed Monday, Row 44 asked for temporary authority to start service on AMC-1 using up to 100 earth stations while the license modification is pending.