Satellite-delivered consumer broadband is increasingly concentrating in low earth orbit (LEO), with SpaceX's growth expected to start facing competition from Amazon's Kuiper within months, satellite industry experts tell us. Geostationary orbit (GSO) providers continue losing residential broadband subscribers, though EchoStar says it sees a slower decline. Viasat has begun redirecting residential broadband spectrum capacity to other uses.
Comments are due June 27, replies July 12, as the FCC Space Bureau seeks a refresh of the record on proposed orbital debris mitigation rules, said a notice for Tuesday's Federal Register. The bureau said it was seeking a refresh on such issues as whether to measure collision risks in the aggregate for a non-geostationary orbit constellation or on a per satellite basis and what factors would be relevant in conducting an aggregate risk analysis. It also seeks input on using a 100 object-years metric -- the number of years each failed satellite remains in orbit, added across all the satellites -- for assessing the risk of derelict satellites in orbit from a constellation. The rules came from a Further NPRM that was adopted in 2020 alongside the FCC's orbital debris order (see 2004230040). Comments are due in docket 22-271.
The Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA) fired back at the Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI) in their dispute over the role FirstNet should play in the 4.9 GHz band (see 2405100061). CERCI’s approach is “wrong from top to bottom: its legal analysis is unsound, and its proposal for the use of the 4.9 GHz band would perpetuate the band’s chronic under-utilization,” a filing posted Friday in docket 07-100 said. Congress made clear that "it would not limit the FirstNet Authority’s ability to build a nationwide interoperable public safety network to a single generation of technology or spectrum band -- especially given the evolving nature of technology in general, and mobile technology in particular,” the PSSA said.
Despite expectations that the affordable connectivity program (ACP) will run dry in days, telecom companies continued arguing in comments last week that the California Public Utilities Commission should take its time forming its response. However, while larger ISPs slammed consumer advocates' proposal, small local exchange carriers said they would work with the advocates on a compromise that quickly expands California LifeLine support to broadband.
AT&T needs freedom to address its copper network, including parts that are more than 100 years old, but regulation requires that the network keep operating, Chris Sambar, executive vice president-technology operations and head of network, said Tuesday during an AT&T Policy Forum. Sambar said he plans meetings at the FCC this week when he will discuss the cost for AT&T and other carriers of keeping copper lines operating.
Alaska Broadband Advocates met with FCC commissioners and staff and discussed “the current disparity between the Lower 48 and Alaska in terms of speed availability, residential package pricing and cost per household,” according to a filing posted Thursday in docket 16-271. For example, a school district’s cost per Mbps of service in Alaska is “200 times more than the median cost in the United States,” they told the FCC. The Alaskans met with Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington and aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks.
Communication companies should prepare now for the threat from quantum computing, which can break the cryptography that protects data from attacks, Taylor Hartley, network security solutions architect at Ericsson North America, said during an IEEE webinar Wednesday. “Anything that utilizes a public key can easily be broken by a quantum computer,” Hartley said. “We definitely have reason to believe” bad actors are gathering encrypted data so that they will be able to unencrypt it one day, she said. Hartley recommended migrating weakened algorithms to post-quantum cryptograpy. The National Institute of Standards and Technology ran a contest and selected the first three algorithms found to be quantum resistant, she said. It's expected the three will be standardized this summer and “then we can start implementing them,” Hartley said. The concept of quantum computing started in the 1980s, and we’ve known since the 1990s that it could “break the cryptography that we use today,” she said. The first commercially available quantum computer was introduced in 2011, she said. Recently, companies like IBM, Google and Honeywell have made advances in quantum computing, she said. Hartley recommended starting a "quantum readiness road map, conducting inventories, applying risk assessments and analysis and engaging with your vendors.”
Non-stand-alone 5G networks tied to a core 4G network worked well in 5G's first phase, but they can’t handle network slicing and other things the new generation of wireless is promising, speakers said Monday during Fierce Network’s Cloud Native 5G Summit.
Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley signaled that his company is open to selling “assets” amid rumors that it's eyeing divesting 60 stations. Meanwhile, Nexstar CEO Perry Sook said broadcasters can’t have confidence about transactions in the current regulatory environment. The CEOs spoke during their respective Q1 earnings calls last week. Ripley, Sook and executives from Gray and E.W. Scripps also discussed progress on ATSC 3.0, a backloaded political advertising market, and streaming during earnings calls.
Disney's entertainment streaming business -- not counting ESPN+ -- reaching profitability in the company's most-recent quarter "is a huge milestone for Disney and for the entire studio streaming ecosystem," Ampere Analysis' Guy Bisson wrote Tuesday. That $47 million operating profit came two quarters earlier than Disney predicted the entire direct-to-consumer business would reach profitability, he said. Disney was the only major studio to go so far with streaming, pulling back key content for its streaming platform, and "there is no going back from here," Bisson said. The move to profitability -- with other studios likely to follow in coming quarters -- "takes a huge amount of downward pressure off content spend," Bisson said. Streamers are moving to a "mix and match approach" of offering their originals while also seeking high-quality titles to license, he said. With linear viewing in decline, and spending on ads shifting to streaming, increased streaming profitability could accelerate that shift, he said. "As the 'proof of concept' is now signed, sealed and delivered, the industry will move even faster to transition away from traditional outlets."