Amazon's Kuiper and Iridium reached a coordination agreement for use of the 19.3-19.7 GHz and 29.1-29.5 GHz bands, which was a condition on deployment of the Kuiper constellation, the companies told the FCC Space Bureau this week.

Citing unavoidable factors, including weather, for the 12-day delay of the ViaSat-3 launch, Viasat asked the FCC Space Bureau for a one-month extension of its milestone deadline to June 30. In an application posted Thursday, Viasat said it made "significant progress" in on-station deployment of the Ka-band geostationary orbit satellite, but the process isn't complete and it hasn't started commercial operations. ViaSat-3 launched at the end of April (see 2305010013).

Concerns raised about SpaceX/T-Mobile joint efforts for mobile supplemental coverage from space (see 2305190057) "rely on either misinterpretations of Commission rules or fundamentally flawed technical 'studies,'" SpaceX said Wednesday in docket 23-135. T-Mobile also dismissed criticisms. Citing out-of-band emissions concerns, SpaceX said it and T-Mobile signed a spectrum manager lease arrangement and agreed to technical limits consistent with rules for PCS G Block spectrum, "even when those rules are more restrictive than comparable satellite rules that could be applied instead." T-Mobile said there's no need for demonstrations on potential interference since the consumer handsets communicating with SpaceX will be the same ones used now with its terrestrial wireless network. It said there also is no basis for requiring either company to demonstrate the potential effect of the SCS service on T-Mobile's network since the wireless carrier "has the discretion, so long as it complies with all relevant rules, to optimize its network configuration to operate in harmony with SpaceX." Both companies said criticism that they requested either too many or too few waivers from the FCC are baseless. TerreStar Solutions, which plans to begin trialing a non-terrestrial two-way messaging service and then offer SCS to Canadians, said the SpaceX/T-Mobile SCS plan raises interference risks for incumbent mobile satellite service (MSS) operators like it. TerreStar said SCS approaches like SpaceX/T-Mobile, which require frequency use waivers, could reduce the amount of spectrum available for terrestrial operations. It said the FCC should instead focus on supporting the use of existing MSS allocations by licensed MSS operators to provide SCS services.

The International Space Station maneuvered twice in a week to avoid potential orbital debris collisions, NASA said Wednesday. The first episode was March 6 to avoid a projected collision with an Argentinian earth observation satellite, and the second was March 14 to avoid debris from Russia's November 2021 anti-satellite test. NASA said they were ISS' 34th and 35th collision avoidance maneuvers against tracked objects since 1999.

Viasat has closed on its Inmarsat purchase, it said Wednesday. The $7.3 billion deal was announced in late 2021 (see 2111080038). It said New Viasat's corporate headquarters will continue to be in Carlsbad, California, with its international business headquarters to be in London.

The State Department laid out a space diplomacy framework Tuesday that it said would help guide the agency as it pursues such space goals as increased resilience, space safety and security cooperation, promotion and encouragement of responsible behaviors. It said the framework involves bilateral and multilateral engagement, plus using U.S. space activities for wider diplomatic goals. The framework also has State pursuing more international cooperation in the use of satellite applications such as remote sensing and space-derived data for use for climate change, arms control and economic competitiveness. State said it will provide staff with skills and tools for space-related policy to allow, for example, broader use of space-related data. Applauding the framework, the Satellite Industry Association pointed to "the report’s appreciation for the need for both traditional diplomacy as well as engagement with the U.S. and worldwide commercial space stakeholders."

AT&T objections about SpaceX/T-Mobile plans for mobile supplemental coverage from space (SCS) (see 2305190057) are likely to prompt the FCC to require more information about the duo's direct-to-handset plans, which would slow those plans but not stop them, New Street Research said in a note to investors Friday. With the SCS service many months from commercial rollout, that delay shouldn't be material, New Street said.

Viasat's $7.3 billion purchase of Inmarsat announced in late 2021 (see 2111080038) should close within the next handful of days, Viasat said Thursday as it announced the European Commission signed off without conditions. The EC approval follows those earlier this month by the FCC (see 2305220003) and U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (see 2305180003). In a docket 22-153 filing Thursday, Viasat requested a time extension to come into compliance with the FCC's cap on multiple non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) systems in the same frequency bands. It said contractual restrictions on sharing competitive sense information before closing on Inmarsat means the two companies are "very limited" in their ability to address post-acquisition integration, including integration of business plans for their pending applications to operate V-band NGSO systems.

The ITU lacks any process for assessing the joint effect of multiple ITU filings or deadline for doing such an assessment, and that timing uncertainty is why the FCC should let Amazon operate its Kuiper constellation before getting an equivalent power flux density finding from the ITU that explicitly considers the joint effect of Amazon's multiple Kuiper filings, the company told the Space Bureau Tuesday. Requiring that finding before Kuiper commences operations "would delay -- perhaps significantly -- Amazon’s deployment timeline," it said. If there are any concerns about splitting big constellations among multiple ITU filings, the modification request addresses them by letting Kuiper start operating on a noninterference basis while ultimately requiring a finding that shows the entire system complies with ITU limits, it said. In a petition to deny the modification application and partial rules waiver, Hughes said it "would plainly undermine the rule’s purpose to ensure interference protection of primary [geostationary orbit] services prior to any commencement of secondary [non-geostationary orbit] operations." With Kuiper yet to launch any satellites and not to launch production satellites until the first half of 2024, a waiver request is without basis, it said.

With the European Commission's competition review being the last major regulatory hurdles, Viasat said Friday it expects its $7.3 billion Inmarsat acquisition (see 2111080038) to close by month's end. The FCC Space Bureau and Office of International Affairs, in an order issued Friday signing off on the transaction, said existing and new entrant competitors said a combined Viasat/Inmarsat won't significantly hurt competition in the satellite-supplied government services sector and said competition is growing in the aviation and maritime sectors. The agency approval includes conditions on foreign-ownership monitoring.