Satellite companies and manufacturers supported the Obama Administration’s draft proposals to update the satellite export control regime in comments to the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). The proposals address the transfer of satellite systems and their components from the U.S. munitions list (USML) to the Commerce Control List (CCL). Items controlled under the USML are critical to national security, while the CCL is less restrictive and includes items that are less critical. Comments were due this week and posted Thursday (http://1.usa.gov/1aevu9E). SES, Intelsat, Boeing and other companies approved of the proposals but asked for clarifications to export control classification numbers (ECCN) that identify items.
The Satellite Industry Association and EchoStar urged the FCC to deny a petition from Utilities Telecom Council and Winchester Cator for a review of the commission’s decision denying secondary use of the 14.0-14.5 GHz band. Enforcing upper limits on the amount of critical infrastructure industry (CII) receivers authorized to operate on a secondary basis “would not address how and when particular transmitters could be located and shut down in the event of harmful interference,” SIA said in comments in docket RM-11429 (http://bit.ly/121loUk). The commission rightly concluded that the public interest isn’t served “by allowing CII users on a secondary basis in frequencies where the risk of interference to FSS [fixed satellite service] earth stations is significant,” SIA said. The UTC-Winchester centralized coordination role “does not adequately address all cases of potential interference since it fails to take into account the particular sensitivities of individual satellites,” EchoStar said (http://bit.ly/1azl6Mz). The petitioner hasn’t included a workable plan to pinpoint specific interferers, it said.
The Satellite Industry Association urged the FCC to implement changes in the regulatory fee structure “to more accurately assign FTEs [full-time employees] and improve the regulatory fee structure,” it said in reply comments in docket 08-65 (http://bit.ly/13aUD4L). The record supports the commission’s proposed allocation of International Bureau FTEs, SIA said. SIA opposed Fireweed Communications’ support for revenue-based fee allocation. Fireweed “fails to present any supporting rationale that passes statutory muster,” SIA said. Fireweed argues that the FCC can eliminate all fee categories, “ignoring the fact that these categories were explicitly established by Congress when it adopted the regulatory fee framework,” SIA said. The commission also should use objective workload metrics wherever possible to assign support bureau FTEs among categories of fee payers, it said. SES, Inmarsat and Telesat urged the commission not to impose a regulatory fee on foreign-licensed satellites. The only FCC efforts solely focusing on such satellites involve processing requests for market access, “a one-time expenditure of resources that does not justify a recurring regulatory fee,” they said in a joint filing (http://bit.ly/13aGaXJ). In its comments, Intelsat listed the number of foreign satellites that have been approved to serve the U.S. through petitions for declaratory ruling, the parties said: This work doesn’t constitute ongoing regulation “and any associated costs would more appropriately be recovered through an application fee, not regulatory fees.” EchoStar and Dish also opposed imposing regulatory fees on non-U.S. satellites. Intelsat disregards the fact that the entities it references as foreign-issued authorization holders “are also holders of U.S. authorizations for satellite space stations, earth stations or both,” they said in joint comments (http://bit.ly/13aGMN2). They also urged the FCC to avoid altering the methodology for collecting fees from DBS licensees: Media Bureau activities relating to DBS “are certainly no greater than they were when the current fee structure was established in 1993.” DirecTV urged the FCC to reject the American Cable Association’s suggestion to impose such fees on DBS companies. The FCC may only amend the regulatory fee schedule “based on changes in law and regulation that, in turn, change the costs of regulating particular industry segments,” it said (http://bit.ly/19FMnd4).
Companies from across the telecom industry urged the FCC last week to reform its rules for assessing regulatory fees. Commenters said change is necessary to ensure no provider is at a competitive disadvantage. An NPRM last month sought comment on several reforms, including changes to the Interstate Telecommunications Service Providers fee category, reallocation of full-time equivalent (FTE) employee fees, and limitations on regulatory fee increases (http://bit.ly/13YxqAR).
Global satellite industry revenue grew 7 percent in 2012, outpacing both the worldwide economic growth rate (2.3 percent) and U.S. growth (2.2 percent), but well behind telecom sector growth at 14 percent, the Satellite Industry Association said in its annual State of the Satellite Industry Report, released Monday. Worldwide, 2012 revenue totaled $189.5 billion in 2012, up from $177.3 billion the previous year. But industry employment fell by 1 percent through the first three quarters of the year, a loss of 1,407 jobs. In 2011, industry employment fell 2 percent.
Row 44 joined the Satellite Industry Association, “further augmenting the association’s representation of the dynamic satellite-based in-flight entertainment and connectivity sector,” SIA said in a news release Wednesday. As a satellite-based service provider of in-flight broadband to about 500 commercial aircraft on four continents, “Row 44 will lend considerable experience to SIA’s active regulatory and spectrum activities that support the satellite sector’s ongoing innovation and investment in mobility capabilities,” said the association.
The Satellite Industry Association is pleased the Obama administration “has moved quickly to right-size the rules that govern exports of satellites and their parts and components, just a few months after Congress restored their authority to do so,” said SIA in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/11fGfay). “We view sensible and effective export controls as a vital tool to enhance our nation’s space industrial base and encourage the satellite sector’s ongoing leadership in innovation and investment,” said President Patricia Cooper. The State Department and Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security had released concurrent proposed rules on changes to the U.S. Munitions List and Commerce Control List for spacecraft and related items. That was the latest export control reform step. The proposed rules can be seen at http://1.usa.gov/10qOdc4 and http://1.usa.gov/11fSQKE.
Satellite companies and in-flight broadband and entertainment providers urged the FCC to approve rules granting earth stations aboard aircraft (ESAA) primary status as an application of the fixed satellite service in the Ku band. ViaSat, Boeing, the Satellite Industry Association and other entities supported the NPRM in comments due this week. The status change would put ESAA on equal footing with the earth stations on vessels (ESV) and vehicle-mounted earth stations (VMES) allocations, they said. The commenters also highlighted the FCC’s acknowledgment that ESAA networks operated in the conventional Ku band with no reported interference to other users.
The SI Organization joined the Satellite Industry Association. The SI “brings unique experience in providing state-of-the-art technology and engineering solutions to support the communications needs of the government,” SIA said in a press release (http://bit.ly/13GgeR6). Virginia-based SI Organization provides mission-focused systems engineering and integration capabilities to the Department of Defense and other agencies, it said on its website, www.thesiorg.com.
The government continues to take steps to enhance partnerships in commercial space launches, said Maj. Justin Sutherland, a chief in the Air Force Space Operations Division. The government is taking the initial steps to implement the provisions on launch and space vehicles in the FY13 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was passed in January, he said Tuesday at a Federal Aviation Administration Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee meeting in Washington.