§ 25.164   Milestones.

   (a) The recipient of an initial license for a GSO space station, other
   than a DBS or SDARS space station, granted on or after August 27, 2003,
   must launch the space station, position it in its assigned orbital
   location, and operate it in accordance with the station authorization
   no later than five years after the grant of the license, unless a
   different schedule is established by Title 47, Chapter I, or the
   Commission.

   (b) The recipient of an initial license for an NGSO satellite system,
   other than a DBS or SDARS satellite system, granted on or after
   September 11, 2003, must launch the space stations, place them in the
   assigned orbits, and operate them in accordance with the station
   authorization no later than six years after the grant of the license,
   unless a different schedule is established by Title 47, Chapter I, or
   the Commission.

   (c)-(e) [Reserved]

   (f) A licensee subject to the requirements in paragraph (a) or (b) of
   this section must either demonstrate compliance with the applicable
   requirement or notify the Commission in writing that the requirement
   was not met, within 15 days after the specified deadline. Compliance
   with a milestone requirement in paragraph (a) or (b) of this section
   may be demonstrated by certifying pursuant to § 25.121(d) that the space
   station(s) in question, has, or have, been launched and placed in the
   authorized orbital location or non-geostationary orbit(s) and that
   in-orbit operation of the space station or stations has been tested and
   found to be consistent with the terms of the authorization.

   (g) Licensees of satellite systems that include both NGSO satellites
   and GSO satellites, other than DBS and SDARS satellite systems, must
   meet the requirement in paragraph (a) of this section with respect to
   the GSO satellite(s) and the requirement in paragraph (b) of this
   section with respect to the NGSO satellites.

   (h) In cases where the Commission grants a satellite authorization in
   different stages, such as a license for a satellite system using feeder
   links or inter-satellite links, the earliest of the milestone schedules
   will be applied to the entire satellite system.

   [ 68 FR 51507 , Aug. 27, 2003, as amended at  69 FR 51587 , Aug. 20, 2004;
    79 FR 8320 , Feb. 12, 2014;  81 FR 55334 , Aug. 18, 2016]

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