The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency signed a one-year contract with SES for O3b Networks’ services and ground equipment for use at the National Weather Service office in Pago Pago, American Samoa, SES said in a Monday news release. It said the NOAA contract will help the agency expand its broadband connectivity outside the continental U.S. for wider dissemination of weather and data forecasting.

LightSquared's compatibility testing is duplicative of federal Transportation Department efforts, and its methodology is questionable, the GPS Innovation Alliance said in an FCC filing posted Monday in docket 12-340. The filing is in response to testing LightSquared began in July of possible interference between its broadband uplink and downlink signals and neighboring spectrum GPS signals (see 1507160045). While LightSquared has solicited feedback from the GPS industry on the testing, being done by Roberson and Associates, GPS Innovation Alliance said it "will focus its technical efforts" on the DOT assessment of adjacent band compatibility issues, the draft test plan of which is expected to be released soon. The LightSquared testing "would reinvent any number of test methods and acceptable criteria" that have been sent out by the ITU and the International Civil Aviation Authority among others, and an issue of a sole service provider "is not an appropriate place for domestic modification of established international standards," GPSIA said. In a separate filing in the docket posted Monday, the American Meteorological Society and National Weather Association said the FCC should go through "careful deliberation regarding the options and their consequences" before allowing any sharing of the 1675-1695 MHz band by meteorological and hydrological users and broadband. LightSquared's plans would have it using a downlink at 1670-1675 MHz, while NTIA is looking at 1675-1695 as the subject of a possible auction in the future, AMS and NWA said. "The choice of which spectrum bands are shared should not endanger the reliability or the effectiveness of public safety meteorological and hydrological data flow" from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellites, and thus should not happen "unless it can be confirmed that no loss or interruption of the critical life-saving operations currently using it will occur," the two said. In a filing to be posted in docket 12-340, LightSquared said Tuesday that since the initial DOT testing plan was released in December 2012, "so far not a single device has yet been tested, nor has any end date of testing been identified." It also said GPSIA's questioning of the standards Roberson is following in its testing "is wholly incorrect" and that the organization "provides no specific criticisms of any of the standards proposed by Roberson that would allow substantiation of such a claim." The testing "needs to proceed in a timely way in order to provide relevant input ... and will do so notwithstanding GPSIA’s failure to contribute," LightSquared said. In a separate filing to be posted in the docket, it said it "agrees that any sharing of this spectrum must ensure that NOAA and the National Weather Service can carry out the critical functions described by AMS and NWA." Citing studies done by Alion Science & Technology filed last year, LightSquared said such spectrum sharing "is technically feasible" and that it "has undertaken additional close study of the spectrum, including services received by non-NOAA entities, and plans to file a further study shortly, providing further assurance that the critical operations described by AMS and NWA can be protected."

The third satellite in Inmarsat's Global Xpress constellation, Inmarsat-5 F3, is scheduled to launch Aug. 28, with the company's global commercial high-speed broadband service expected to commence by the end of the year, the satellite company said in a Monday news release. The satellite is to go up from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. F3 will cover the Pacific Ocean region as part of Global Xpress' global high-speed broadband service. F1 was launched in December 2013.

Gilat Satellite Networks and Space Star Technology jointly will provide the satellite communications network for ChinaSat 16, the first Ka-band high-throughput multispot-beam satellite in China, Gilat said in a Wednesday news release. Gilat's contributions will include its SkyEdge II-c technology in the network segments and very small aperture terminals, and consulting with Space Star, Gilat said.

The FCC International Bureau approved blanket authority for Inmarsat to operate its aircraft-mounted GX Terminals, which will provide high-speed satellite broadband services to aviation customers over its Global Xpress Ka-band satellite network. The approval, given Tuesday, lets the JetWave MCS-8200 and MCS-8000 terminals communicate with Inmarsat-5 F2, one of the satellites in its Global Xpress constellation, due to launch in coming months.

SpaceX continues to fail to assuage interference and collision-avoidance issues as it seeks FCC approval for its experimental satellite system, Intelsat said in an Office of Engineering and Technology filing submitted Monday. Intelsat and SpaceX repeatedly have clashed over SpaceX plans to launch test satellites in advance of a low Earth orbit constellation providing a global broadband service, with SpaceX accusing Intelsat of fishing for proprietary information (see 1507310040). Intelsat said Monday that its request for more information "was not frivolous," and argued SpaceX is incorrect when it says it has provided sufficient detail regarding interference and collision issues. "The company's continued reluctance to demonstrate compliance with all relevant FCC requirements makes it impossible for co-frequency systems, such as Intelsat, to assess interference potential," Intelsat said. That no one from SpaceX has talked to Intelsat's technical or launch team to designate a point person is a clear-cut violation of obligations under collision-avoidance rules, Intelsat said.

Despite what EchoStar says, relying on ITU coordination instead of FCC two-degree spacing rules to mitigate signal interference issues "would help, not hurt, satellite competition," Intelsat said in a filing posted Monday in docket 12-267. Intelsat and EchoStar have been at loggerheads over Intelsat's recommendation to end two-degree spacing and go with ITU filing priority as the basis for coordination requirements (see 1508050034). As numerous new national satellite operators emerged in recent years in multiple areas, "it therefore hardly seems as if the ITU’s processes are hindering new entrants seeking to provide communications satellite services," Intelsat said. "ITU coordination procedures facilitate market entry because they require good faith negotiations between sovereigns/operators -- even by the senior rights holder." Meanwhile, relatively few geostationary satellites have been licensed by the FCC in that time, Intelsat said. Relying on ITU coordination "would allow U.S. licensees to better meet the demand for services utilizing small antennas, such as mobility services," Intelsat said.

DirecTV is expanding the footprint of NFLSundayTicket.TV to noncustomers. The NFL Sunday Ticket streaming service now is available to apartment, condominium and townhouse residents not now receiving DirecTV, and to consumers unable to install a DirecTV dishes at home due to obstructions or other restrictions, AT&T said in a Monday news release. It's also offering it to students at four-year schools at student pricing, AT&T said. The Sunday Ticket online streaming packages start at $49.99 a month for four months, or $24.99 a month for four months for students. The second product announcement since AT&T bought DirecTV extends the package to all connected devices, Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche wrote investors. Last week, AT&T unveiled a triple-play lineup (see 1508030030).

The FCC should issue its decision on the Satellite Broadcasting & Communications Association 2012 petition against Philadelphia's satellite dish ordinance (see 1404220028) on over-the-air reception device rules, said Darrell Clarke (D), president of the Philadelphia City Council, in a letter to the FCC. Since the proceeding has been closed since February 2012 and the petition itself is almost four years old, Clarke asked the commission to consider the impact of the continued delay on the needs and interests of the city's residents.

OneWeb joined the Satellite Industry Association, SIA said in a Thursday news release. OneWeb earlier this year announced plans to launch 648 Ku-band low Earth orbit satellites, which would tie into Intelsat's geosynchronous satellite constellation and create a satellite-provided broadband network expected to go live in 2019 (see 1506260025).