AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless filed a petition for review Tu...
AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless filed a petition for review Tues. with the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., against the FCC decision in Jan. allowing mobile satellite service (MSS) operators to use an ancillary terrestrial component (ATC). The petition was…
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filed the day after petitions for reconsideration were due at the FCC on the issue (CD July 9 p5). The wireless carriers’ charged that allowing MSS providers to provide terrestrial service with satellite spectrum was unlawful: “Converting a satellite-only authorization into a license for mixed satellite and terrestrial use was a major license change requiring the FCC to conduct an auction under Section 309(j) of the Communications Act.” The carriers said they were “aggrieved” by the ATC order, not only as competitors in the mobile telephony market but also as licensees that had to pay for spectrum. Mobile Satellite Ventures Vp Lon Levin said the companies were exhibiting consistent behavior by “challenging us from going forward in every forum they can find.” Meanwhile, he said, issues raised in petitions for reconsideration by Cingular and CTIA were “creative ways to kill the MSS business. They keep on coming up with more and more ways to stop us from going forward without any regard for the fact that the satellite business is challenging.”