FCC granted Infosat Communications blanket authority to operate 5...
FCC granted Infosat Communications blanket authority to operate 50,000 mobile earth terminals (METs) on noninterference basis to provide mobile satellite service (MSS) in U.S. via Canadian-licensed satellite operating in portions of L-band. Commission said grant would facilitate increased competition…
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in MSS market. It denied petition to deny by Motient and rejected comments by Space Systems Licensee, Iridium, Globalstar, Norcom Networks. Each opposing party said Infosat hasn’t demonstrated its operations would be consistent with DISCO II requirements. They said that: (1) Grant would prevent Motient from gaining access to sufficient spectrum to operate domestic MSS system. (2) Infosat’s proposal didn’t meet Commission’s requirements for priority and preemptive access for aeronautical and maritime safety communications. (3) Infosat would benefit unfairly from enhanced pricing flexibility due to subsidies Canadian govt. provided to TMI, which owns MSAT-1 satellite that will be used by Infosat. Motient also said Infosat had failed to obtain necessary 214 authority to provide international MSS to and from mobile terminals located in U.S. Commission said it didn’t address all of opposition concerns because identical arguments had been made in previous cases. It said Infosat was expected to obtain Sec. 214 authority before offering common carrier service. FCC said Motient had provided no evidence that Infosat didn’t intend to comply with its regulatory obligations. It also said assertions that Infosat’s application violated FCC freeze on lower L-band spectrum were misplaced since authority wouldn’t be official until action in lower L-band proceeding was finalized.