Inmarsat wants the FCC to condition a proposed merger of Telenor ...
Inmarsat wants the FCC to condition a proposed merger of Telenor and Inceptum on allowing Inmarsat to change its distribution structure, according to FCC filings. “The power to change the existing distribution structure lies entirely with [Telenor and Inceptum]…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
who continue to benefit from it,” said Inmarsat. Inmarsat was created to be a wholesaler of maritime satellite system services to countries with exclusive rights to “land” Inmarsat services, and then resell them. That meant Inmarsat end users had to buy Inmarsat offerings through a controlled distribution network. Inmarsat went private in 1999; its distribution network and associated requirements remained. “While about a dozen global distributors once offered the full suite of Inmarsat services, the number of such distributors today stands at a mere three,” Diane Cornell, Inmarsat vp-govt. affairs, told the FCC in a recent ex parte. Inmarsat wants “a normal competitive environment” with “no artificial limit” on distributors, said Cornell. Inmarsat, which has taken its case globally, told the FCC that the U.K. Office of Fair Trading formally has asked the E.C. to review the merger. Referral does not necessarily mean the EC will review the merger, Cornell told us. If the EC accepts the referral, the parties then defend the merger, after which the EC will have 35 days to decide whether to clear or it could move it to a longer phase II review, Cornell said.