FCC Grants Blanket License to ViaSat Airborne Radios

By Doug Lung
published

ViaSat announced this week Launch of Improved In-flight Internet Service Draws Closer with FCC License Grant to ViaSat. The FCC granted ViaSat a 15-year, renewable, blanket license for Ka-band aeronautical Earth stations allowing the company to offer its airborne “Exede In The Air” Ka-band service over all 50 U.S. states using ViaSat-1, WildBlue-1, and Anik-F2.

“This is the first license of its kind in the world,” said Mark Dankberg, ViaSat chairman and CEO. “We’re gratified to see the FCC recognizing that the advanced technical design of this equipment is compatible with the operating environment in which our other Exede services successfully operate. Now airlines, and their passengers, will have access to an unprecedented amount of bandwidth. We want to let everyone on board be connected at high speed.”

As I reported last month, ViaSat and Boeing have partnered to provide in-flight Ka-band Internet service. While ViaSat did not mention its new ViaSat-2 satellite in the blanket license announcement, I would expect that once ViaSat-2 is in operation ViaSat will request modification of its license to include it.

Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.