 |
 |
||
|
|
||
Viasat seeks review of Starlink Viasat is trying to throw a wrench into rival SpaceX's plan to deploy thousands of satellites for the Starlink broadband service over concerns that the resulting constellation could be hazardous to the Earth's atmosphere, potentially create more orbital debris from collisions and generate massive amounts of light pollution. Viasat's petition to the FCC filed on December 22 stems from SpaceX's proposal to modify its deployment by lowering the orbital altitude of nearly 3,000 Starlink satellites. As Space News points out, satellite systems have enjoyed a categorical exemption from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires the FCC and other agencies to assess the environmental impacts of their actions.
Viasat notes in its filing that light pollution from Starlink's constellations also can 'create an aesthetic distraction for any stargazer.'
(Image source: Daniel Lopez/El Cielo de Canarias in Interesting Engineering, July 24, 2020, as cited in Viasat's FCC filing) Viasat holds that Starlink's plan to deploy thousands of satellites (the FCC has authorized SpaceX to deploy about 12,000 satellites) adds a wide range of new variables and potential hazards that should obviate that exemption. As a result, Viasat is urging the FCC to deny or defer SpaceX's proposed modification and, at the very least, to prepare an environmental assessment (EA) before acting on SpaceX's application. The petition emerges as Starlink moves toward the commercial launch of a broadband satellite service that will rely on a constellation of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites and will compete with satellite broadband services from companies such as Viasat and Hughes Network Systems that are currently powered by high-orbit, geosynchronous satellites. Tests conducted last fall by Ookla found that average speeds for a beta version of Starlink's service delivered 79 Mbit/s down and 13.8 Mbit/s up. "The Commission cannot take SpaceX's word for it that the thousands of satellites it is seeking to pack into a lower orbit will not materially increase the risks of collisions and produce excessive space debris — especially because SpaceX knows that when its satellites do collide with other space objects and fragment or fail, it can always launch more," Viasat stated. Responding on Twitter, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk suggested that Viacom's petition is motivated by the competition it will face from Spacelink. But he also seemed to forget that Charlie Ergen doesn't run Viasat (Ergen, Dish Network's chairman, is connected to Hughes, which is backing OneWeb's revised plan for a LEO-based service). Musk fixed that in a follow-up tweet targeted at Viasat chairman and co-founder Mark Dankberg.
For more about the Viasat petition and its concerns, please see this story at Light Reading: Viasat presses FCC to review environmental impact of Starlink's satellites.
Related posts:
— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading |
Charter has sparked RDOF work in all 24 states where it won bids. The cable op booked about $19 million in RDOF revenues in Q1, and expects to have about $9 million per month come in over the next ten years.
Launch of 2-Gig and 5-Gig FTTP tiers in 70-plus markets puts more pressure on cable ops to enhance their existing DOCSIS 3.1 network or accelerate their upgrade activity centered on the new DOCSIS 4.0 specs.
Ziply Fiber, an operator that tangles with Comcast and Charter, has launched two multi-gigabit tiers in 60 urban areas, aiming for all markets by Q2 2022.
Elon Musk's nascent broadband will need to radically accelerate the rate of satellite launches – and navigate tricky supply chain logistics – if it's going to come close to fulfilling its global ambition.
MoffettNathanson questions whether mobile operators will have the network capacity and the right business metrics to back their aggressive stance and forecasts for fixed wireless home broadband.
 WebinarsARCHIVED
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
1:00 p.m. New York / 6:00 p.m. London When your broadband business adds new services and connected devices, do they also add complexity, slowing customer support teams as they navigate multiple data sources to uncover connectivity issues? We’ve worked with hundreds of support teams to help them implement a subscriber experience management platform that gives greater visibility into subscriber issues. They can proactively troubleshoot amid complexity—improving the subscriber experience and raising customer satisfaction ratings like Net Promoter Scores. Join this webinar with experts from Calix and global research leader Omdia who will share exclusive research about how you can:
|
|
|
||
