A 2015 budget request from the Senate Appropriations Committee includes support for an auction or assignment of the 1675-1680 MHz band. The committee released the budget report last week (http://1.usa.gov/1rRQhMG). The spectrum band is used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “which NOAA currently uses for weather balloon communications,” the report said. LightSquared asked the FCC to issue an allocation NPRM on shared commercial and federal use of that band (CD April 16 p9). LightSquared completed testing of wireless operations in the band in an effort to allow it to move forward with its stalled terrestrial network plan. The committee report could be a “positive sign” for LightSquared’s spectrum sharing plan, a satellite industry professional said. The committee called for an “expeditious relocation of NOAA’s operations to a different radio frequency band,” it said. NOAA is exploring the feasibility of relocating radiosonde operations from 1675-1680 MHz to 400 MHz “in order to accommodate terrestrial broadband transmitters,” NTIA said in its progress report on spectrum usage plans also released last week (http://1.usa.gov/TnQgki).

Inmarsat plans to deploy a fully integrated air-to-ground network across the EU. The aviation network “will deliver high-speed broadband services to commercial and business aviation passengers across the continent,” Inmarsat said in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1tKU1LF). The services will be offered with Inmarsat’s forthcoming Ka-band network, Global Xpress, it said.

AT&T expects cost reduction synergies to exceed a $1.6 billion annually by three years after closing as a result of an approval of its takeover of DirecTV. After the completion of the transaction, its U-verse content costs are expected to be reduced by about 20 percent or more “as compared with our forecasted standalone content costs,” it said in its Form 8-K (http://1.usa.gov/1kBdzl4). With this deal, the company can offer a better bundling opportunity by allowing AT&T to bundle all its Project VIP footprint with video and broadband at “24 million more locations than originally planned,” it said. The economics of the transaction will allow the combined company “to upgrade 2 million additional locations to high speed broadband with Gigapower FTTP (fiber to the premise) and expand our high speed broadband footprint to an additional 13 million locations,” it said. AT&T also said it expects fixed wireless broadband to provide speeds of up to 10-15 Mbps during peak periods “with even higher maximum speeds during off peak times.” The company expects its Project VIP network plan to bring fiber to more than 400,000 new business location by the end of Q2 2014 (CD June 4 p13).

EchoStar urged the FCC to clarify that set-top boxes acting as client devices for indoor wireless access points can operate in the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure, or the U-NII-1 band, at the maximum power level afforded under new Wi-Fi rules. The new rules require a company that is deploying more than 1,000 outdoor access points in the 5.15-5.25 GHz band to submit a letter that acknowledges responsibility for correcting interference. Where EchoStar’s Wi-Fi-enabled set-top boxes are using unlicensed spectrum, it’s essential that they be permitted “to operate at the same maximum power levels that Part 15 affords to access points or other indoor devices that operate in an entirely stationary mode,” it said in a petition for reconsideration in docket 13-49 (http://bit.ly/1p4KyOU). There’s no indication in the NPRM for this proceeding that the FCC intended to suggest otherwise, it said. The new rule also assigns the higher maximum power level of 1 Watt to “indoor access points,” without explicitly acknowledging indoor client devices “that operate in an equally stationary mode and are neither ‘mobile’ or ‘portable’ in the manner of, for example, a smartphone or a tablet,” it said.

Comtech obtained a $1 million contract for satellite mobile backhaul equipment from an unidentified mobile network operator in Africa. The equipment will be used for a network upgrade “that will transport and optimize voice and data communications, and facilitate subscriber growth” in the Republic of Congo, Comtech said Monday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1jMIvd5). The order included requests for advanced satellite modems and modem redundancy switches, it said.

Thuraya launched Atlas IP, maritime-focused satellite terminal. It’s designed to complement the Thuraya Orion IP broadband terminal “by offering a fully-featured voice and data product with additional functionality built in,” Thuraya said Monday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1pMoVmj). The terminal offers features “designed to support improved communications functionality and enhance shipboard operations,” it said. It’s capable of standard IP data transfer at rates up to 444 kbps and asymmetric streaming capability of 16 kbps-384 kbps, it said.

The Astra 5B satellite by SES is operating at 31.5 degrees east over central and eastern Europe. It provides direct-to-home and direct-to-cable services and contribution feeds to digital terrestrial TV networks in its target markets, SES said Monday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1nYM3P6). The satellite replaced Astra 1G, and it increased available satellite capacity at 31.5 degrees east from 19 to 40 active transponders, it said.

Dish Network customers will be able to pay with bitcoin starting in Q3, said a company news release (http://bit.ly/1ozfY2n) Thursday. Dish is the first “subscription model pay-TV provider” to use the digital currency, it said. Bitcoin payment processor Coinbase “will help DISH make the payment experience easy for our customers and make it easy for DISH to receive immediate credit in dollars, at an attractive cost for DISH,” said Dish Chief Operating Officer Bernie Han.

Eutelsat successfully launched Eutelsat 3B on a Zenit-3SL rocket. The satellite was launched from a platform in the Pacific Ocean Monday, Eutelsat said Tuesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1nskdwW). Following early orbit operations, the satellite “will undergo a full series of in-orbit tests,” it said. The satellite is expected to enter full commercial service in July, Eutelsat 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.