NEW ICO PRESSES FCC FOR ANSWER DESPITE NORTHPOINT RULING
Northpoint decision won’t affect New ICO’s effort to add ancillary terrestrial service (ATC), Senior Vp-External Affairs Gerry Salemme told us Thurs. New ICO filed petition at FCC (CD April 24 p1) to use satellite frequencies for terrestrial service. “Nothing has changed” as result of Northpoint decision, Salemme said. “We're the license holder. Northpoint wasn’t… People understand the differences. You don’t take away our spectrum.” Nevertheless, some believe company now may have difficulty getting Commission approval because of Northpoint decision, which allows terrestrials companies to share satellite spectrum in 12.2-12.7 GHz band for multichannel distributors, but requires auction of spectrum. Despite major investment in New ICO system, company still probably has financial wherewithal to bid in auction, industry source said. Industry attorney said Commission “had another tough call” in deciding fate of New ICO, which said adding ATC was only way satellite service could work.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
Salemme said issues involved were different in 4 basic ways: (1) ATC service was “integral part of satellite offering, not standalone terrestrial service. (2) ICO owned global nongeostationary MSS, not geostationary fixed satellite service. (3) ICO’s end users were mobile, not fixed. (4) ICO operated in international MSS, not domestic DBS, allocation. FCC’s Northpoint decision “isn’t relevant,” Salemme said: “A Northpoint-type sharing scenario has neither been proposed nor found to be possible for MSS.” He said New ICO wasn’t asking Commission to authorize “wholly separate services” as it did in Northpoint ruling, but to “use existing spectrum allocations in a most efficient and flexible way.”
FCC isn’t expected to act in 30 days, FCC sources said. Salemme said New ICO hoped Commission would act expeditiously. He said modifications are essential to make system viable to provide services to rural America: “This is a very difficult challenge. We have to have flexibility in our spectrum.” New ICO faces strong opposition, particularly from wireless industry. Salemme said wireless industry had “a different economic position as the entrenched provider” and had “created unrealistic fears.”
New ICO-Teledesic CEO Craig McCaw is committed to making satellite voice and data service work despite failures of others, Salemme said, and many in satellite industry are banking on him to revive interest in satellite telephony market.