Satellite policy will be spurred another year of mergers in 2007, several industry sources said. But this year consolidation won’t be between fixed satellite services (FSS) giants, regulatory attorneys said: It will involve just about everybody else. Expect to see a merger push by XM and Sirius, a mobile satellite services (MSS) shakeout, and possibly an end-run by Liberty-controlled DirecTV and EchoStar, they said.

ICO changed its 2 GHz satellite manufacturing contract 4 times in the 6 months after it won an FCC license for the craft, so it might be ICO’s own fault construction is delayed, competitor Inmarsat said. The Commission shouldn’t give ICO 4 extra months -- until Nov. -- to build and launch its new satellite, Inmarsat said Thurs. in follow-up comments to its Dec. Petition to Deny (CD Dec 21 p13). Inmarsat deemed suspect the “evolution” of ICO’s spacecraft from a “relatively simple bent pipe design” to the current “first of its kind” design that incorporates never-before-used ground based beam forming. The Commission extends milestones only for unforseen circumstances, not to allow last-minute technology changes in a satellite design, Inmarsat said. ICO should submit its current contract and all changes for FCC review so the Commission can compare the new design to the originally licensed version, Inmarsat said. The 3rd and 4th amendments to the contract haven’t been filed at the FCC, and the first and 2nd amendments were filed with a “reverse FOIA” confidentiality request, Inmarsat said. A complete version of ICO’s contract is “essential for purposes of assessing whether ICO’s voluntary choices have given rise to its manufacturing delay,” Inmarsat said. Inmarsat asked the FCC to make ICO: (1) File complete copies of every amendment to its spacecraft construction contract. (2) Show that technology choices aren’t the cause of ICO’s satellite delay. Inmarsat also countered ICO’s argument that it can’t object to the milestone extension request. Inmarsat said it has standing under the Communications Act as an MSS competitor. Inmarsat added it’s “harmed” by ICO’s satellite manufacturing delays because it’s vying for the 2 GHz spectrum now reserved for ICO’s use.

AT&T and BellSouth late Thurs. agreed to a number of new merger conditions arrived at during dozens of hours of negotiations in recent days as talks continued over the Christmas holiday between the companies and the offices of Comrs. Copps and Adelstein. AT&T agreed to conditions on special access, net neutrality, naked DSL and the sale of 2.5 GHz spectrum that go well beyond anything in earlier offers from the Bells. With AT&T’s offer on the table the merger order is now teed up for a vote as early as Fri. (Dec. 29).

LG, NEC, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba formed the WirelessHD consortium to develop a specification for a wireless HD digital interface that will enable HD AV streaming and high-speed content transmission for TVs and other CE devices, the companies announced Tues. Wireless technology company SiBeam also is a member of WirelessHD, which described itself as a “special interest group.”

U.S. broadband isn’t lagging the way it’s portrayed to be, said Eli Noam, CITI dir., because the next generations of “superbroadband” and “ultrabroadband” should put the country among the top nations for connectivity and performance. Even the figures often cited about our current “poor” showing in broadband are generally unreliable, Noam said: FCC statistics are very different from year to year; 6 separate “reputable” reports on broadband penetration in Spain have 6 widely divergent results; and the World Economic Forum Networked Readiness Index even has the U.S. as the top country. “If you torture the data enough, it will confess to anything,” he added. Also, he said, the 2.5 GHz spectrum band is more competitive and responsive and easier to integrate vertically than the 1.5 GHz band used in many countries currently outranking the U.S. in broadband penetration. Noam said this alone could significantly lessen the gap between the U.S. and so-called broadband leaders.

Conditions proposed by AT&T and BellSouth in a bid for FCC merger approval got a mixed review Mon., now that parties have had time to study the late-filed FCC public notice (CD Oct 16 p1). The agency late Fri. decided not to vote on the merger so public comment could be solicited on the proposed conditions. The FCC called for comments by Oct. 24 on an AT&T list of proposed conditions that was submitted as an ex parte filing.

FCC Chmn. Martin decided Fri. not to press for a vote on the AT&T-BellSouth merger so public comment could be solicited on proposed conditions emerging from negotiations among the commissioners. Martin said the vote could occur at the Nov. 3 open meeting if not sooner by circulation. The proposed conditions were offered late in the week by AT&T in response to FCC requests for language addressing the Democratic commissioners’ concerns.

XM has been operating 240 of its 800 or so terrestrial repeaters outside FCC rules, the satellite radio operator said this week in a request for Commission permission for further modifications to its ground system. The admission, included in 30-day request for FCC Special Temporary Authority, has WCS wireless licensees -- XM’s spectrum neighbors -- up in arms. XM began Sept. 23 a “series of remedial actions” to bring most of its repeaters into compliance with its 2001 temporary FCC license, it said without explaining that need. The 30-day application for changes soon will be followed by a 180-day request, XM said.

The FCC WRC Advisory Committee (WAC) voted Wed. to adopt a position against using 3.7-4.2 GHz as a band for advanced wireless services, agreeing with satellite operators. But the committee has not adopted a position on 3650-3700 MHz, a frequency the FCC has slated for limited use in the U.S.

The new public safety mesh network in Providence won’t operate over the 4.9 GHz band allocated by the FCC and DHS for public safety, but that’s not surprising, according to experts who spoke with Communications Daily this week. Because of the poor propagation characteristics of that band, Providence and other cities are choosing other bands for their networks, they said. Some expressed concern that the lack of a national standard could cause trouble down the road for any planned nationally interoperable network.