Dish Network and EchoStar's opposition to SpaceX's use of the 2 GHz band for supplemental coverage from space (see 2303150048) ignores Dish's pledge years ago to provide mobile satellite service in the 2000-2020 MHz and 2180-2200 MHz bands, though it did nothing, SpaceX told the FCC International Bureau last week. "Rather than deploying service, DISH deploys petitions," it said, saying Dish is upending FCC policy "by demanding that satellite operators show how they can protect terrestrial service -- in a satellite spectrum band." Dish didn't comment.

OneWeb agreed to some DOJ national security and law enforcement conditions for the pending modification of its U.S. market access grant (see 2101130002), per an FCC International Bureau filing Friday. Among the conditions, it won't provide or allow access to records or domestic communications infrastructure to a foreign government or entity without prior written U.S. government consent.

Current FCC space licensing, regulatory fee and spectrum management regimes often don't work well with many novel space activities, Venable space lawyer Laura Stefani blogged Thursday. The agency is working on new policies, but it's unclear if it "will do enough, fast enough, to provide regulatory relief and certainty," she said. Congress also needs to clearly define different agencies' roles in regulating the space industry, especially as conservative judges "are looking for clear, specific delegations of statutory authority to uphold major agency actions," she said.

Since the FCC gave SpaceX a partial waiver letting it start operations before receiving a necessary ITU finding, Amazon's planned Kuiper constellation should receive the same treatment, Amazon told the International Bureau Wednesday. In an application for an amendment of its pending modification, Amazon said "uncertainty and delay" in the ITU process could threaten Kuiper deployment, so the commission should allow Kuiper to begin before receiving the usually needed equivalent power flux density findings from the ITU. It said it would take "all reasonable steps to eliminate any harmful interference" to geostationary orbit systems in frequency bands subject to ITU EPFD limits.

Kepler and Spire continue to urge FCC support for a small-satellite mobile satellite service (MSS) spectrum allocation in the 2020-2025 MHz band. In an RM-11869 filing Thursday, they recapped a meeting with International Bureau staffers in which they said having 1 MHz for downlink and 4 MHz for uplink would help in alleviating spectrum bottlenecks faced by emerging MSS operators. The two petitioned for the allocation in 2020 (see 2012220049).

Sunsetting non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite service protection would create a "dangerous precedent" in other bands with long-standing interference protection, OneWeb said Wednesday in docket 21-456, recapping a meeting between company representatives and FCC International Bureau staff. Sunsetting two-degree spacing among geostationary FSS networks "would be unfathomable," and sunsetting NGSO FSS interference protection should be viewed the same way, it said. Instead, the agency should codify such mechanisms as good-faith coordination among NGSO operators, limiting use of default band splitting to systems in the same processing round requiring later-filed systems to protect earlier-authorized systems from interference, it said. The FCC said Wednesday that a draft order regarding NGSO FSS interference protection would be on its April agenda (see 2303290068).

Telesat had hoped to have financing for its Lightspeed low earth orbit constellation wrapped up by 2022’s end, but “we’re not there yet,” CEO Dan Goldberg told investors Wednesday as it announced the year’s annual results. Goldberg said he's optimistic financing will be secured and it’s in discussions with equity investors. He said Telesat is still investing in Lightspeed development independent of that financing issue. “There’s a huge market for a well-engineered, enterprise-grade, enterprise-focused LEO constellation,” he said. He said it already got $4 billion in financing committed. In its annual report, Telesat said it won't meet the milestone date set by the FCC for Lightspeed's U.S. market access granted in 2020, and it plans to seek an extension. Asked about future geostationary orbit satellite launches, Goldberg said Telesat would replace or launch a GEO “if we’re convinced we’ve got a strong business case for it." There are no GEO replacement plans for 2023, he said.

Intelsat expects to launch its Galaxy 37 C-band replacement satellite in July, it told the FCC International Bureau in an application Tuesday. Galaxy 37 is to replace Galaxy 13 and is the last of the C-band satellites Intelsat is launching as part of the C-band clearing, it said.

All active C-band antennas in partial economic areas known to be pointed at Telesat satellites have been transitioned as part of the C-band clearing, Telesat said Tuesday in docket 18-122, but it's continuing transition of the unassociated antennas/feeds that the relocation coordinator assigned it.

All the conditions imposed on the second-generation Starlink constellation should similarly be imposed on Amazon's Kuiper, SpaceX told the FCC International Bureau Monday. Kuiper seeks modification of its 2020 authorization so it's subject to the same condition on coordination and showing noninterference as SpaceX's second-gen satellites (see 2303270054). However, SpaceX said, "If Amazon feels that it is similarly situated and wants consistency of conditions with SpaceX, it cannot also be allowed to pick to accept some conditions while rejecting others."