Intelsat hires Patricia Cooper, ex-Satellite Industry Association, as vice president-government affairs and policy, new position, effective Aug. 25; SIA searching for replacement (see separate report above in this issue) … NCP, remote access virtual private network provider, promotes Patrick Oliver Graf to CEO … WiTricity, which transfers wireless power over distances, hires Farooq Butt, ex-Dell’s End User Solutions group, as senior vice president-business development and strategy … FCC names Elin Swanson Katz, Connecticut consumer counsel, to Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, on behalf of National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, filling position of William Levis, Colorado consumer counsel … Cablevision elects Steven Simmons, Simmons Patriot Media & Communications, to board.

The Satellite Industry Association will search for a new president this summer. Its current president, Patricia Cooper, will resign Aug. 15 to work for Intelsat. (See separate report below in this issue.) During the recruitment process, SIA Policy Director Sam Black will be SIA acting president, SIA said Wednesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1s52XN5).

The Satellite Industry Association asked the FCC for an extension of time to file reply comments in the proceeding on commercial operations in the 3550-3650 MHz band. SIA would like the deadline changed from Aug. 1 to Aug. 15, it said in its motion in docket 12-354 (http://bit.ly/1Ah3q3t). Reviewing all the comments and documents filed during the initial comment period, and drafting responsive comments will be time consuming for SIA and other parties, it said. During the reply period, many technical personnel for SIA member companies will not be available due to their attendance at ITU joint task force group meetings for the 2015 World Radiocommunications Conference, it said.

Proposed changes to how FCC regulatory fees are assessed impose a “disproportionate” burden on wireless, CTIA said in comments filed at the FCC. The FCC’s overall budget for FY 2014 is $449.8 million and Congress directed the agency to recover about $339.8 million through regulatory fees, and $98.7 million through revenue retained from spectrum auctions. Comments in docket 12-201 were due Monday on a June 12 NPRM (http://bit.ly/U1K1m0).

The Satellite Industry Association met with the FCC on further modifications that could be made to streamline Part 25 rules and reduce regulatory burdens on the satellite industry. SIA focused on issues like ITU filings for satellites, the commission’s two-degree spacing rules, and “streamlined processing of some space station and earth station modifications,” it said in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 12-267 (http://bit.ly/TRphxc). The filing pertained to a meeting with executives from EchoStar, Inmarsat and the International Bureau.

The proposed air-to-ground (ATG) mobile broadband service in the 14 GHz band will give in-flight passengers the same level of broadband connectivity they have on the ground, Qualcomm said. Allowing some base stations to operate with 6 dB more power to compensate for adverse atmospheric conditions won’t cause interference to fixed satellite services operations “because the aggregate interference will at no time exceed the maximum allowable level of -48.7 dBW/Hz,” it said in a letter posted Wednesday to docket 13-114 (http://bit.ly/1gBpSgW). The Satellite Industry Association “misreads the proposed rules,” Qualcomm said. Those rules “do not contemplate having multiple licenses operate on the same swath of spectrum,” it said in response to SIA’s recent ex parte filing (WID May 23 p13). If harmful interference to geosynchronous FSS operations occurs, “there will be a single secondary licensee for the primary satellite operator to contact for remediation purposes,” said the company.

The proposed air-to-ground (ATG) mobile broadband service in the 14 GHz band will give in-flight passengers the same level of broadband connectivity they have on the ground, Qualcomm said. Allowing some base stations to operate with 6 dB more power to compensate for adverse atmospheric conditions won’t cause interference to fixed satellite services operations “because the aggregate interference will at no time exceed the maximum allowable level of -48.7 dBW/Hz,” it said in a letter posted Wednesday to docket 13-114 (http://bit.ly/1gBpSgW). The Satellite Industry Association “misreads the proposed rules,” Qualcomm said. Those rules “do not contemplate having multiple licenses operate on the same swath of spectrum,” it said in response to SIA’s recent ex parte filing (CD May 23 p16). If harmful interference to geosynchronous FSS operations occurs, “there will be a single secondary licensee for the primary satellite operator to contact for remediation purposes,” said the company.

The Satellite Industry Association repeated concerns for a proposed secondary air-to-ground (ATG) mobile broadband service in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band. Recent developments, like AT&T’s plans to build a new 4G LTE ATG system, “undercut the alleged need for access to new spectrum for air-ground broadband operations,” SIA said in an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket RM-11640 (http://bit.ly/1nvdDRQ). Demand for broadband in-flight connectivity will be met with primary spectrum allocations, “without the need to craft a complicated sharing regime between technically diverse secondary and primary services,” it said. Qualcomm proposed the ATG service and the FCC issued an NPRM based on that request. Qualcomm’s suggested revisions to the aeronautical mobile service “are based on unrealistic assumptions regarding satellite networks,” SIA said. They don’t provide for adequate enforcement of the limits necessary to protect the primary fixed satellite service, it said.

The Satellite Industry Association repeated concerns for a proposed secondary air-to-ground (ATG) mobile broadband service in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band. Recent developments, like AT&T’s plans to build a new 4G LTE ATG system, “undercut the alleged need for access to new spectrum for air-ground broadband operations,” SIA said in an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket RM-11640 (http://bit.ly/1nvdDRQ). Demand for broadband in-flight connectivity will be met with primary spectrum allocations, “without the need to craft a complicated sharing regime between technically diverse secondary and primary services,” it said. Qualcomm proposed the ATG service and the FCC issued an NPRM based on that request. Qualcomm’s suggested revisions to the aeronautical mobile service “are based on unrealistic assumptions regarding satellite networks,” SIA said. They don’t provide for adequate enforcement of the limits necessary to protect the primary fixed satellite service, it said.

World satellite industry revenue rose 3.4 percent in 2013 to $195.2 billion, said a Satellite Industry Association report. The largest growth was in the satellite services segment, with a nearly $7 billion increase in revenue, SIA said in a news release Monday on its State of the Satellite Industry Report (http://bit.ly/1lVRo8c). SIA said that increase was driven by continued growth in consumer satellite television services. Manufacturing revenue reached $15.7 billion, but launch revenue dropped 7 percent, it said. Revenue from satellite ground equipment had a slight increase of 1 percent to $55.5 billion, SIA said. U.S. satellite market revenue grew 5 percent to $85.9 billion, with manufacturing reaching $10.9 billion mainly due to the delivery of a large number of high-value satellites for U.S. government customers, it said. Fixed satellite services worldwide remained flat, while mobile satellite services grew 6 percent, the report said. Commercially procured launches worldwide increased to 62, up from 59 launches in 2012, said SIA. “Government customers worldwide remained the major satellite launch revenue driver, reaching 70 percent of commercially-procured satellite launch revenues, up from 64 percent in 2012.” The U.S. had the largest share of the launch revenue, with more than 70 percent of the revenue coming from the launch of U.S. government satellites, it said. The report was prepared by The Tauri Group, which polled more than 80 satellite companies, SIA said.