Matt Daneman

Government subsidies of satellite-provided broadband services, such as the FCC's Connect America Fund or the U.K.'s Better Broadband subsidies, require ongoing analyses of the comparative costs of different solutions and due diligence in looking at various technology combinations to see what's effective in different situations, said a draft report on broadband satellite by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Working Party on Communication Infrastructures and Services Policy, provided to Communications Daily. The report catalogs the current state of the satellite industry and looks at subsidy and regulatory considerations in satellite-provided broadband. The report also says the uncertainty that comes with new satellite technologies might create a larger need for market-based subsidy mechanisms like auctions to choose providers and technologies in broadband subsidy plans. Laying out a variety of satellite policy and regulatory changes going on by regulators worldwide, the report also said the expected growth of non-geostationary orbit systems will necessitate further changes in regulations. A satellite industry executive told us the report is to be discussed at the Working Party's May meeting.

Multiple U.S. satellite operators had numerous suggestions for Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) Canada as the agency considers revisions to non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) licensing rules (see 1703090018). The FCC also is looking at updating its own NGSO fixed satellite service (FSS) rules (see 1612150066).

Half a dozen states have adopted or are close to adopting laws easing the regulatory burdens of 5G deployment, and the hope is that more will follow suit this year, said CTIA Senior Vice President-External and State Affairs Jamie Hastings Thursday at a Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) 5G presentation. Ohio, Kansas, Arizona and Colorado passed such laws in the past 18 months, and bills in Iowa and Virginia are awaiting those governors' signatures, Hastings told us afterward, saying some other states are "in play," though she didn't elaborate.

At least one satellite operator is leaning toward filing a petition for reconsideration of the FCC's Connect America Fund Phase II bid weights decision, we were told. Satellite industry insiders said the overarching issue is the way the weighting system gives particular preference to issues like latency and speeds that result in satellite broadband services being unlikely to participate. Thursday is the deadline for petitions, the FCC confirmed Monday, but didn't comment further.

Dish Network's incentive auction spectrum plans remain hazy. Many saw Dish's 486 licenses for $6.2 billion as being a bigger play than nothing expected. Similar questions surround Comcast's strategy with its $1.7 billion for 73 licenses being smaller than anticipated (see 1704130056). The auction is expected to lead to problems for low-power TV stations and translators (see 1704140062).

Some kind of major space conjunction event, such as a cubesat collision with a far larger satellite, seems almost inevitable, and regulators and policymakers need to be planning for that now, said Mike Gold, chairman of the FAA Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee, at an FCBA event Thursday. However, an overreaction "will be sending jobs and capabilities overseas" to other regulatory regimes, he said.

Satellite operators with non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) constellation applications before the FCC are starting to provide additional technical details to the International Bureau. The bureau in a series of letters in March to some operators requested supplemental constellation information on such issues as mitigation of orbital debris. ViaSat in a letter Tuesday provided more details about its post-mission disposal plans, giving more technical details about its plans to put its satellites into storage orbit at 8,500 kilometers. Boeing's letter elaborated on its plans for keeping apogee, perigee, inclination and argument of perigee values during the satellites' lifetimes, and more details on its intent to comply with application equivalent power flux density limits. The bureau, meanwhile, gave the company a May 10 deadline for providing a variety of supplemental information about its V-band constellation, including its design and operational strategies for mitigating orbital debris and an analysis of collision risk, in a letter Tuesday to Boeing. Karousel's letter Tuesday cited waivers it foresees needing in the 29.1-29.25 GHz and 29.25-29.5 GHz bands for its NGSO constellation since there's no NGSO designation in the bands, and how it will prevent interference with Iridium operations in the 29.1-29.3 GHz bands. The bureau this week also extended LeoSat's deadline to May 15 for it to give more information about the status of the French licensing authority's review of the orbital debris mitigation plans of LeoSat's constellation and an analysis of collision risk during the passive disposal phase. Boeing separately emailed us that its NGSO plans are "in full accordance with FCC requirements and precedent" -- in response to allegations by ViaSat that pending V- and Ka-band constellation applications from Boeing, SpaceX and O3b don't meet FCC requirements (see 1704110028).

Satellite operators are at odds on whether/how to change milestone rules for nongeostationary orbit (NGSO) fixed satellite service (FSS) constellations and how the FCC should deal with pending V-band constellation applications, as the agency looks to potentially update Part 2 and 25 satellite rules (see 1612150066). Tuesday was the deadline for replies on an NPRM, with many satellite operators agreeing on one issue -- opening up more spectrum to NGSO.

The FCC and allies and NATOA are at odds over the significance of a federal appellate court overturning the agency's solicited fax rule and what it means for a challenge of the commission finding of effective competition in the U.S. cable market. FCC intervenor NCTA in a letter (in Pacer) Friday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and the FCC in a letter (in Pacer) Thursday, said Congress expressly gave the agency authority to make effective competition determinations in franchise areas. The FCC said the fight over the agency terminating franchising authorities' certifications to regulate cable rates in areas where there's effective competition is "plainly distinguishable" from the D.C. Circuit's ruling last month that the agency's solicited fax rule is illegal (see 1703310018). The regulator said its December 2015 conclusion of effective competition in most franchise areas nationwide was consistent with the Communications Act's text and legislative history. In its letter (in Pacer) Wednesday to the D.C. Circuit, NATOA -- which along with NAB and Minnesota's Northern Dakota County Cable Communications Commission is challenging the effective competition finding (see 1508280033) -- said the D.C. Circuit junk faxing ruling "definitively rejected" FCC rationale that its solicited fax rule was lawful as long as Congress didn't prohibit it, and that since Congress didn't authorize "mass sua sponte terminations of franchising authority certifications," the court should set aside the FCC effective competition order. NCTA rejected NATOA assertions that the D.C. Circuit decision means the only way for the agency to terminate franchising authorities' certifications is after a petition, as laid out in Section 623(a)(5) of the Communications Act, saying that section of code is about seeking relief from a franchising authority that exercises its rate regulation in violation of FCC standards, and is silent about effective competition determinations.

FCC bureau staff still is going through satellite industry arguments and opponent counterarguments for revisiting spectrum frontiers rules and likely will have a list of options to present to Chairman Ajit Pai within a couple of weeks, agency staff and proceeding insiders told us.