Industry Urges Satellite-Friendly WTO Negotiations

SIA used the report to urge the U.S. Trade Representative to pressure the countries -- 15 current WTO members and 4 WTO hopefuls -- to change their ways. SIA wants the nations to: provide transparent, nondiscriminatory procedures for licensing earth stations accessing domestic or foreign satellite systems; delete local entity or local presence requirements; and eliminate frequency coordination requirements. Standing WTO members like China, Indonesia and Thailand are advised to eliminate monopolies and duopolies that act as intermediaries in the sale of the foreign space segment. The delivery of broadcast video services via satellites must not be excluded from a country’s WTO offer, SIA argued, saying govts. should allow foreign satellite operators to deliver video programming and any associated audio signals because they represent a transport service of the content developed by licensed broadcasters.

The satellite business inherently international, an industry source said: “The more we find restrictions to our being able to provide these services, the more they create a real loss for us and ultimately for our customers.” Regulatory barriers in some countries have lessened in the last 10 years as more nations have opened their doors to competition, but spectrum, auction and other fees still cause companies problems. As countries have moved away from investment and ownership in the satellite operators, their significant involvement is still felt in terms of regional and national systems, the source said: “Where we see the biggest hurdles is where those operators continue to exit and there continue to be the same old problems of bias toward a government-owned, controlled or influenced entity.”

Russia is among the worst offenders, SIA’s analysis said. The country’s satellite regulation isn’t transparent and the legal requirements regarding the provision of satellite services in the country are not clearly defined. The group said Russia has established a preference for using its own Rostelecom systems, and an expensive certification process for anyone that wants to sell equipment in Russia or wants a license. Russia began the accession process in 1993 and bilateral market access negotiations on goods and services are ongoing, the WTO said.

WTO hopeful Kazakhstan, whose telecom monopoly is scheduled to end in 2007, has plans to launch its own national satellite -- KazSat 1 -- at the end of 2005, SIA said. Once launched, it should get no special treatment compared to any of the other local or global satellite systems, the group said. Kazakhstan’s working party commenced in 1996. SIA wants the same to hold true for Vietnam, which has its own satellite operator but hasn’t yet launched a satellite. Vietnam began the accession process in 1995 and in 2004 was commended by the WTO for considerably improving its market access offers for goods and services. Those negotiations continue, the organization said. Saudi Arabia, another country working on accession since 1993, has failed to provide national treatment for foreign operators and preferential treatment for local satellite operator, SIA added.

The industry white paper could influence negotiations, said former USTR telecom trade dir. Tricia Paoletta. WTO accession is a process that routinely is influenced by informal and formal input from industry as well as bilateral and multilateral working groups, she said: “It will be informative for USTR to find out what it needs to get to satisfy the US satellite industry. It’s very wise for SIA to directly go to the mountain to file… As a negotiator, you want to go in with a strong hand and ask for everything,” even though as negotiations wrap-up, substantial horse trading takes place.

SIA works with USTR often, SIA Exec. Dir. David Cavossa said, drafting similar papers to provide them an opportunity to hear from the entire industry regarding barriers to market access throughout the developed and developing world. Historically, the satellite sector has been a key player in negotiations, particularly in the WTO’s basic telecommunications services agreement in 1997, Paoletta said.