SATELLITE APPLICATIONS TO BE FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVED, FCC SAYS

Applications for GSO systems will be granted in the order they arrive, “provided the applicant is qualified and… there is not another license granted that would conflict with the application,” Spaeth said. Each of the licenses is expected to take 180 days to be processed and granted, he said. NGSO applications will be considered similarly, but Spaeth said the difference was that “when an NGSO application reaches the top of the queue, the Commission will invite other interested parties to file competing applications to be considered together.” Each round of applications will have its own cut-off date to qualify for consideration, the FCC said. After all qualified applicants have been determined, the Commission will split the spectrum “equally” among applicants, Spaeth said. The NGSO process is expected to take 270 days.

The new rules add conditions and eliminate some rules that will streamline the process further, Spaeth said. The FCC removed restrictions on the sale of satellite licenses to allow “licensees to sell [their] licenses to other parties better able to construct the satellite and… adjust to their customers’ changing needs,” he said. Comr. Copps said adopting a “first-come, first-served” system at the same time as the antitrafficking rule was eliminated made him “uneasy” and he would have “maintained some, even if not all, of [the antitrafficking rule’s] protection.” Comr. Adelstein said the elimination of the rule could develop a secondary market: “However… we potentially also enable speculators to reap financial gains from filing applications for the principal purpose of speculation or other gaming of our revised satellite licensing process.”

Additional conditions include: (1) Requiring applicants to post a bond with their applications, to discourage speculation. Bonds will be up to $7.5 million and must be paid if milestones are missed. (2) Placing a limit on the number of pending licenses or unbuilt systems one applicant can hold at a time. GSO applicants can hold 5 pending licenses or unbuilt systems, NGSO applicants can hold one of each. Attribution rules are included to ensure no applicant can go over the limit. (3) Setting more milestones and pushing stronger enforcement. International Bureau Chief Donald Abelson said the enforcement would impose “tighter limits for applicants that apply and don’t build” systems. Old milestones that weren’t met would continue to be addressed under old rules, he said.

A freeze has been placed on space station applications until the item is published in the Federal Register, Spaeth said, a move that the Commission expects will help avoid a land rush on the available spectrum. Electronic applications are mandated by the new rules, he said, although 70% of applications already are filed that way. Licensing for non- U.S. applicants was revised, but the Commission didn’t detail the changes. Spaeth said a streamlined procedure was adopted for replacement satellite applications that were submitted unopposed.

Two other satellite items were dropped from the agenda -- the mitigation of orbital debris (IB Docket No. 02-54) and multichannel video distribution and data services (MVDDS) (ET Docket No. 98-206). The Commission said the MVDDS issue had been removed an order had been adopted. The orbital debris issue will be addressed later in a separate docket, an FCC staffer said.

Meanwhile, the Commission released milestone orders Mon. It said it would allow R/L DBS to modify its construction permit for 61.5 degrees W to reflect the operation of its satellite Rainbow 1 as a spot beam satellite. The order also extended the company’s launch milestone to Aug. 31 from March 29 due to a scheduled shutdown of the launch range and recently discovered defects in the launcher built by Lockheed Martin: “These are the types of circumstances that the Commission recognized might warrant extending milestones… Extension of these milestones will help to ensure a safe and successful launch of the Rainbow 1 satellite, and also serve the public interest by adding a new facilities-based competitor in the DBS service.”

The FCC denied E-Sat’s request to extend its implementation milestone deadlines and consequently nullified the company’s nonvoice, NGSO mobile satellite service (MSS) license. E-Sat’s milestones required it to complete construction on 2 birds by March 2002 and launch them by Sept. 2002. The company had requested an extension for the 2nd of 6 satellites to Sept. 2004 and the construction and launch milestones of the remaining 4 satellites to March 2006 from March 2004, the agency said. E-Sat told the FCC that its majority owner, DBS Industries, hadn’t been able to raise funds needed for construction and launch due to financial difficulties with other satellite systems and the state of the telecom sector in general. The agency ruled that E-Sat was financially qualified to complete the systems when it first applied and that “failure to obtain the financing” wasn’t a reason for an extension.