Corrected entry: In this film the aliens are said to be operating with a hive mind, and are all telepathically linked to the alien queen on the mothership. It is also stated the mothership from the first film also had a queen that was never seen. If that is the case, then there would not have been any need in the first film to use Earth's satellites to coordinate the attack.
BaconIsMyBFF
6th Jul 2020
Correction: There could be a distance factor involved. The mothership in the first film stayed outside of Earth's atmosphere. The Harvester ship in this film landed on Earth with the queen on board. In the first film the city destroyers entered Earth's atmosphere at areas around the world. So it could be that they needed to use the satellites in the first film to coordinate with the Destroyers inside Earth's atmosphere which were spread all around the world. Also, in this film The Queen goes to Area 51 on board her personal ship and she controls the fighters which are very close to her as she exits her ship therefore not needing any satellites.
The aliens didn't need the satellites to control their ships, they only needed them to send a countdown timer to one another (which is ludicrous all on its own). They are linked telepathically to one another in addition to the queen, former President Whitmore, Dr. Okun, and Umbutu. These people are all spread all over the planet and still have a link to the aliens. Also, the captured aliens rejoice in unison when they realise the queen is coming yet they are nowhere near her and have no means of knowing this other than their psychic link.
BaconIsMyBFF