Intelsat, SES Warn of Further C-Band Transition Holdups
Intelsat and SES expect further delays in satellite aspects of their parts in the C-band Phase II clearing. In their latest docket 18-122 quarterly status updates, they said they still anticipate meeting the overall Phase II clearing deadline. They had warned the FCC earlier this year of some satellite delays (see 2204010052).
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The in-service date of one of Intelsat's seven C-band replacement satellites, G-17R, is now Q1 2023 instead of Q4 2022, the company said. The seven are set to go up in four launches, and to go into service between Q4 and Q2 2023. Intelsat said its launch and in-service schedule could be affected by COVID-19 pandemic supply chain issues and the lack of available aircraft to transport satellites to launch sites due to the Ukraine war.
Intelsat said it's "close" to finishing its integrated receiver/decoders compression technology upgrades for Phase II, with most Phase II IRDs having been shipped. It said as part of the migration of incumbent earth stations, it discovered "many cases" where incumbents are no longer in service and can't be filtered, aren't in the C band or don't exist on site. It said it's working with the relocation coordinator and earth station operators on either correcting licenses or getting them surrendered. Intelsat said of the about 60 antennas to be replaced during Phase II, 26 installations are done.
SES' SES-22 was launched in June (see 2206240008) but manufacturing delays for SES-18 and SES-19 mean they won't be available until at least November, SES said. Having SES-22 ready to launch "has proven critical to maintaining SES’s Phase II clearing schedule in the face of delays in the manufacture of SES-18 and SES-19," SES said. It said it expects the two to start commercial service by year's end or in Q1 2023, and it will launch SES-20 and SES-21 in September. SES-22 should be available for service in August, it said. SES said Thales began building the SES-23 ground spare in June. It said about 38% of its Phase II satellite transitions are done.
Its services migration above 4 GHz is complete and Phase II transition of all claimed antennas done, Eutelsat said it's reviewing a relocation coordinator request it relocate 27 “rover” antennas/feeds that operate intermittently and may previously have received signals from satellites operated by different satellite operators. Eutelsat said the coordinator hasn't provided evidence the rovers have ever been associated with Eutelsat. It said submission of its $7.9 million in transition expense claims is ongoing.
The relocation coordinator asked it and other satellite operators to work on transition of a percentage of antennas that hadn't been associated with any satellite operator, Telesat said. It said it has been transitioning its assigned share. No longer in the U.S. C-band market, Embratel said again it's ready to file its Phase II certification of accelerated relocation and again urged the FCC to provide guidance on doing so.