Satellite

DirecTV owner AT&T and DISH Network both dodged giving specific breakdowns to House Judiciary Committee leaders about how many subscribers rely on a satellite law involving the importation of broadcast signals, which expires Dec. 31, 2019. The key justification in private responses: “competitively sensitive.” Lawmakers want this data as they debate whether to reauthorize the expiring satellite law, known as STELAR. “The total number of DISH and DirecTV subscribers that currently receive one or more stations through a distant signal license … are approximately 870,000,” DISH wrote.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the items below are tentatively on the agenda for the May Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, May 9, 2019:

At the Federal Communications Commission’s May meeting, we will take action to advance the goal of security.

According to filings with the International Telecommunications Union, Amazon layed out plans for putting 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit with the goal of providing internet around the world. "Project Kuiper is a new initiative to launch a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites that will provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world," the company said. "This is a long-term project that envisions serving tens of millions of people who lack basic access to broadband internet.

The following items have been adopted by the Federal Communications Commission and deleted from the list of items scheduled for consideration at the March 15 Open Meeting:

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed policy that could jeopardize the collection of vital information for weather prediction, the heads of the Commerce Department and NASA say. This data is disseminated across wireless radio frequencies known as “spectrum.” It enables transmission of information from satellites, weather balloons, ocean buoys, weather radars and other technologies that are used by government agencies and the private sector. But some of this same spectrum is coveted by commercial wireless providers for their next-generation 5G networks.

The Federal Communications Commission will soon decide whether to side with foreign satellite companies, and allow them to sell their rights to a swath of public airwaves to speed the deployment of 5G technology.  Such a sale to the nation’s biggest wireless providers could bring in as much as $40 billion—and now Congress is threatening to step in and prevent the FCC from allowing the satellite companies to pocket the money.

On Feb 27, the first six of satellites of Greg Wyler's company, OneWeb, are expected to be launched from a remote launch site in French Guiana, a key step toward building out a constellation that could eventually reach nearly 2,000. If the company's plans are successful, it would be nothing short of revolutionary: becoming one of the world’s largest providers of Internet service by building the architecture in space, allowing the billions without access to Wi-Fi to finally use the Web. “The ultimate goal is to connect every school in the world, and bridge the digital divide,” Wyler said.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the items below are tentatively on the agenda for the March Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Friday, March 15, 2019:

On March 15, we’ll aim to make progress on many of the issues core to the Federal Communications Commission’s mission: promoting US leadership on 5G, closing the digital divide, advancing public safety, modernizing our media rules, helping rural consumers, and more.