TerreStar Wants to Tailor 2 GHz MSS System to Agency Needs
TerreStar has been making the rounds at the Dept. of Homeland Security, Dept. of Defense and the Hill since winning 20 MHz of 2 GHz spectrum from the FCC in Dec., about 6 months earlier than it expected, pres. & CEO Robert Brumley said. Reason: To tailor its hybrid satellite/terrestrial wireless system to govt. demands and security needs, he said. DHS and DoD reaction has been strong, Brumley told a Washington Space Business Roundtable lunch Wed. “There’s a simple business equation for this govt.,” he said: “ Can you fix our legacy problems, and what’s the next generation system going to be?”
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Despite tight launch milestones, TerreStar wants DHS, DoD and other agencies to comment on its S-band system’s design, Brumley said. TerreStar’s satellite must launch by Nov. 2007 and its next generation network be operational by Oct. 2008. But the firm’s target markets are homeland security and public safety, Brumley said: “And since I have to build it anyway, why not build it to their requirements?” TerreStar’s 500 spot-beam satellite, being built by Space Systems/Loral, is deemed “a known quantity,” he said. Agencies mainly have been talking with TerreStar about its future ground system -- tower placement being paramount, Brumley said.
TerreStar’s first satellite’s footprint will go 250 miles into the ocean, making the Coast Guard an ideal client for its next generation MSS service, he said. But, as Brumley told listeners, including TerreStar investors, the govt. will be a “customer, not an owner/operator of the system. We won’t ignore commercial interests in deference.” TerreStar, backed entirely by private sector money, is eyeing a market of 28 million customers, he said.
MSS players Globalstar and Mobile Satellite Ventures are on the road trying to raise money to support their own planned hybrid satellite/terrestrial MSS networks. TerreStar soon will hit that circuit, too, Brumley said. MSV CEO Alexander Good was to address the WSBR lunch, but had to cancel for a road show.
The FCC highlighted homeland security needs in allocating 40 MHz of 2 GHz spectrum to TerreStar and competitor ICO in Dec. (CD Dec 12 p3), and Brumley said TerreStar intends to hew to that mandate. “We're not going to go out and flip it,” he said, referring to the S-band spectrum, subject of much inter-industry debate. TerreStar and ICO’s 2 GHz spectrum, near the PCS band, is coveted by wireless carriers miffed that once TerreStar and ICO get Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) clearance from the FCC, they'll be able to tap their satellite spectrum terrestrially -- free. Wireless, on the other hand, pays a premium for its spectrum at auction.
Brumley addressed wireless concerns: “What we're trying to do and what CTIA’s members think we're trying to do are very far apart. We're not going to be a retail provider in competition with the ‘Big 5’ or even regional carriers. Could we be partners? Absolutely,” he said. But TerreStar will be able to do things with its terrestrial network the last major terrestrial build-out couldn’t do, he said. For one, the network will be all IP, he said: “We're past packets.”