As greater numbers of satellites are launched, the FCC is making progress trimming its backlog of satellite and earth station applications, FCC Space Bureau Chief Jay Schwarz said Tuesday as the Satellite Industry Association released its 2025 state of the satellite industry report. A record 11,539 operational satellites were in orbit as of the end of 2024, up more than 1,900 from year-end 2023, SIA said.
The 50 MHz guard band between 28.35 and 28.4 GHz to protect upper microwave flexible use service (UMFUS) receivers from non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) earth stations in motion (ESIM) interference is wasteful and unnecessary, satellite interests said. In a docket 17-95 posting Thursday, the Satellite Industry Association recapped a meeting with FCC staff at which it and satellite company representatives argued that the 28 GHz UMFUS band is underused. SIA said the potential interference from NGSO ESIMs is no different from the potential interference from NGSO fixed terminals or from geostationary orbit fixed terminals or ESIMs, which can operate in the 28.35-28.4 GHz band. Satellite operators have demonstrated the interference risk is minuscule, the group said. A nationwide guard band to safeguard localized, limited UMFUS deployments that are already protected unduly limits NGSO ESIM services. Meeting with the FCC Space and Wireline Bureau staffers were representatives of Amazon, SES and Telesat.
The Commerce Department should conduct a “comprehensive evaluation” of the export controls it has imposed on the U.S. semiconductor industry in recent years to determine whether they are achieving their goal of protecting national security, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said.
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) called on the Bureau of Industry and Security April 15 to “rethink” its "flawed" interim final rule on artificial intelligence diffusion, saying the computing chip-related export controls are so complicated and far-reaching that they will harm the long-term international competitiveness of the U.S. semiconductor industry.
The FCC lacks authority to impose new Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (Calm) Act requirements on current licensees or extend the rules to streaming services, said industry commenters in filings in docket 25-72, which were due Thursday. A nonprofit dedicated to fighting noise pollution and the Hearing Loss Association of America wrote in support of tougher FCC Calm Act enforcement, while NAB, NCTA and the Streaming Innovation Alliance (SIA) opposed any further ad loudness rules. “The Commission cannot -- and should not -- alter the CALM Act technical standards or impose new obligations,” NCTA said.
Regulatory fees assessed on all authorized satellites and earth stations, not just operational ones, help better distribute the fee burden to everyone benefiting from FCC Space Bureau employee resources, the Satellite Industry Association said. In docket 24-85 comments posted Wednesday, SIA said this would also mean lower per-station and per-satellite fees. The group backs assessing satellite regulatory fees based on how much a particular type of operator likely benefits from "full-time employee resources" and constellation size. But it opposes alternative approaches that use a subjective analysis of a system's design and operations, it said. If the FCC takes a fee approach that looks at the number of authorized satellites in a fleet, it must use consistent methodology across satellite operators for what constitutes an authorized satellite, SIA added.
The satellite industry is urging the FCC Space Bureau to establish that routine earth station applications will go on public notice within 30 days of the filing fee and be deemed granted if no objection comes within 45 days of the public notice date. In a docket 22-411 filing Thursday recapping a meeting with bureau Chief Jay Schwarz and other staffers, the Satellite Industry Association said it also urged that any FCC streamlining of satellite and earth station application reviews should automatically grant earth station and satellite special temporary authority renewals until staff acts on the first renewal or the underlying modification application. SIA said the agency should clarify and publicize requirements for RF safety studies. SIA also pitched a process for coordinating commercial space station and earth station applications with NTIA. Satellite operators have been at odds over some shot clock issues in the streamlining proceeding (see 2401090051). Joining SIA in the meeting with the Space Bureau were representatives of Eutelsat/OneWeb, Telesat, Iridium, Planet Labs and Intelsat.
Maryland should create an AI working group instead of passing high-risk AI legislation modeled after Virginia’s potential AI law, tech industry representatives told Maryland’s Senate Finance Committee on Thursday.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is facing a backlog of export license applications and a barrage of questions from industry after applications were put on hold earlier this month, although the agency hopes to see processing slowly return to normal as political appointees are put in place, Export Compliance Daily has learned.
President Donald Trump and lawmakers should carry out a “comprehensive” review of past U.S. technology and investment restrictions involving semiconductors, including the range of recent export controls over advanced chips and related equipment that resulted from the Biden administration’s “small yard, high fence” strategy, the chip industry said.