Tim Warren

COLORADO SPRINGS -- Teamwork between government and industry must improve for the U.S. to continue protecting its own security and allies, Air Force Space Commander Gen. Robert Kehler said Tuesday at the National Space Symposium. “I'm not comfortable with where we are” and that matters are going in the direction “that will take us to the future we need to be in,” he said. “This needs to be a team effort. We don’t have all the answers. But do have set of conditions and approaches today that if we don’t make changes, won’t serve us well as we look to the future. … We must get this one right."

Several Intelsat customers accused the company of anticompetitive behavior, ranging from refusing to provide capacity to companies directly competing for projects to retaliation and intimidation in FCC filings. Additional filings along the same lines are expected, said an industry executive. The companies making the allegations are Globecomm, Artel and CapRock. Spacenet also said it was concerned with the consolidation of satellite operators in the fixed satellite services (FSS) market.

FCC International Bureau Chief Mindel De La Torre expects the bureau to move forward on several spectrum related issues in the coming months, she said at the Washington Space Business Roundtable in Washington Thursday. Broadband, as in the rest of the commission, is the focus for the bureau, and two items recommended in the National Broadband Plan will be acted on relatively quickly, she said.

Potential rule changes in the wireless communications service band meant to open up new spectrum for broadband services still have several flaws, say Sirius XM and the WCS Coalition, reacting to a rulemaking notice issued Friday. Further disagreement over the rules was expected by the FCC Office of Engineering, International Bureau, and Wireless Bureau, which acknowledge in the public notice “the draft rules do not adopt any party’s proposal in full” but say the rules “take a fair and balanced approach” to facilitating broadband use in the largely unused spectrum.

The FCC should be careful as it takes up the Broadband Task Force’s recommendation that TV providers include a broadband gateway device to not ignore some of the unique features of direct broadcast satellite service providers’ technology, said DBS companies. The commission will begin to take up the issue April 21 (CD March 31 p10).

The Senate and the House late Thursday passed a 30-day extension for the license allowing satellite TV companies to import distant signals. The license was set to expire at the end of the month. The legislation (S-3186) gives DBS providers and legislators until the end of April to pass another extension or a longer-term reauthorization. It’s the third time the license, which was originally set to expire at the end of 2009, has gotten a reprieve. The measure was passed without debate in both houses. The Senate also passed a 10-year reauthorization of the distant signal license Friday.

Satellite broadband providers were pleased to find significant recognition of the role the technology could play in increasing the reach of broadband in the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, executives from Hughes Networks and WildBlue said in interviews. While past government broadband initiatives, such as the first round of the broadband stimulus grants, largely discounted satellite broadband as a useful means for connectivity expansion, the FCC’s broadband task for took a new approach, they said.

Intelsat is ramping up efforts to slow satellite interference, as growth in satellite services worldwide has led to increased problems for operators, company executives said. Customers are complaining of interference more than any other issue, and complaints will likely continue to increase as satellite device sales and fill rates move higher unless something is done, CEO Dave McGlade told reporters.

Inmarsat and ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) license partner SkyTerra will look for an outside “established player” to build a terrestrial network to work with the two companies’ satellite networks, Inmarsat CEO Andrew Sukawaty said in an interview. While “nothing has been signed,” the FCC National Broadband Plan recommendations for loosening some of the mobile satellite services/ATC requirements will allow Inmarsat and other ATC licensees to move forward without the expensive regulatory “tethers,” he said. The huge expense in developing a terrestrial network has been one major reason that ATC license holders haven’t been able to find a viable business model and the investment from a larger terrestrial wireless company would help move things forward, he said.

The FCC National Broadband Plan recognizes the value of mobile satellite services (MSS) but calls out the ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) license holders for failing to deploy a functional service, said Iridium CEO Matt Desch Wednesday on a panel at the Satellite 2010 conference. Significant investment has been made in ATC, but nobody has made money from the terrestrial side, he said. Globalstar Chairman Jay Monroe disagreed, citing revenue that its ATC license brings in through an agreement with a wireless broadband provider, Open Range. Desch said he’s glad some companies will be able to recoup some of their investments in ATC while raising the value of Iridium’s spectrum: “This is about repurposing spectrum.” Monroe said the commission is right to try to make spectrum use as efficient as possible.