Comtech EF Data Corp. joined the Satellite Industry Association as an associate member, SIA said.
Mobile satellite services operators need at least three years to develop hearing-aid compatible handsets, the Satellite Industry Association told the FCC. Incorporating hearing-aid compatibility is “a lengthy process” involving 12 to 18 months of standards writing, SIA said. SIA defends the requested delay, saying MSS isn’t used by the general public: “The vast majority of MSS subscribers are commercial or government entities, not consumers.” The FCC should allow all existing MSS handsets and those in development to be marketed even if it requires future handsets to be hearing aid compatible, SIA said.
World Trade Organization countries and would-be WTO members must have transparent and nondiscriminatory satellite licensing or authorization procedures, the Satellite Industry Association told the U.S. Trade Representative in comments filed late Thursday. “Countries should be encouraged to act on satellite access applications within a reasonable period of time, not to exceed six months,” it said. The FCC doesn’t always meet this benchmark but it’s a good goal, an industry source told us. Satellite regulation is veiled in Russia, China, Egypt, Malaysia, South Africa, Thailand and Vietnam, SIA said. Countries shouldn’t require a local presence, SIA said. “If all WTO member countries imposed such a requirement, satellite operators would be burdened with maintaining corporate entities in all countries of their coverage -- an unsustainable corporate structure and expense,” it said. Many nations with their own satellites have laws or rules favoring use of them. For example, Kazakhstan has signaled it wants to move some services to KazSat 1. Some countries require mobile satellite service operators to build and maintain domestic gateways. This requirement wears the cloak of security but has nothing to do with running a network, an industry source said. MSS operators “should be able to demonstrate compliance via the most advanced technical means available, without regard to particular technologies or configurations,” SIA said. Some countries require satellite operators to complete international coordination, SIA said. “The FCC does not require an applicant to complete international coordination before granting that applicant’s satellite system authorization to provide service in the U.S. Rather authorizations are conditioned with the requirement to undertake ITU coordination,” it said. India bans use of the Ku-band for “no logical reason,” SIA said. India also requires satellite operators to coordinate capacity use, and the Indian Space Research Organization only allows use of foreign capacity if capacity isn’t available on its system, SIA said.
The Satellite Industry Association has chosen a new leader. Patricia Cooper, currently in the front office of the FCC’s International Bureau, will become president of the organization this month, according to several sources. David Cavossa, formerly SIA executive director, left in July to join Arrowhead Global Solutions. Cooper’s title will be president, to reflect her greater experience than Cavossa’s, said a person involved in choosing her. It’s hoped her industry and government experience will steer the trade association back to its core issues dealing with satellite spectrum allocations, sources said. In addition to various posts at the FCC, Cooper worked on satellite trade issues for the Department of Commerce in the early 1990’s before working for PanAmSat both in Connecticut and in founding its Washington, D.C. office. After leaving PanAmSat she directed international regulatory and policy strategy at CoreExpress, which is in the extranet business.
Since the FCC has decided a satellite roof-top dish is part of a telecommunications network, the commission should deny a petition for declaratory ruling seeking reversal of a satellite operator’s eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) designation in Texas, the Satellite Industry Association (SIA) said Friday. In March, rural local exchange carriers (RLECs) asked the agency to junk the Texas Public Utility Commission’s grant of ETC status to a Globalstar reseller, DialToneServices (DTS). Only ETCs can get universal-service subsidies.
In defining broadband, the FCC should collect and analyze data based on multiple speeds and tiers, not arbitrarily pick a speed and declare that to be broadband, the Satellite Industry Association (SIA) said in comments filed June 15 (CD June 19 p2). Other commenters tended to focus on FCC Form 477, required of carriers who offer Internet access at speeds of 200 kbps in one direction. Rather than defining broadband based on a particular speed, the FCC could use “speed tiers as a vehicle for measuring the deployment and success of various kinds of advanced- telecommunications capabilities in different customer and geographic markets,” said SIA. Broadband services need to be flexible to meet consumers’ varying needs, it said. “Consumers should have a choice of varying broadband offerings, based on the considerations that are important to them, including cost, speed and other capabilities. One size simply does not fit all,” it said, adding that any such fixed definition would be outdated almost immediately. Last month Senate Commerce Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) introduced a bill that would create two broadband tiers -- one for 200 kbps and one for bandwidth-hungry applications like video (CD May 25 P3). SIA prefers to keep the definition given in Section 706 of the Communications Act, which has no regard for “any transmission media or technology,” because it “contemplates the kind of services that are widely considered broadband by consumers today, and is flexible enough to make sense in evaluating different technologies,” it said.
In defining broadband, the FCC should collect and analyze data based on multiple speeds and tiers, not arbitrarily pick a speed and declare that to be broadband, the Satellite Industry Association (SIA) said in comments filed June 15. Other commenters tended to focus on FCC Form 477, required of carriers who offer Internet access at speeds of 200 kbps in one direction. Rather than defining broadband based on a particular speed, the FCC could use “speed tiers as a vehicle for measuring the deployment and success of various kinds of advanced-telecommunications capabilities in different customer and geographic markets,” said SIA. Broadband services need to be flexible to meet consumers’ varying needs, it said. “Consumers should have a choice of varying broadband offerings, based on the considerations that are important to them, including cost, speed and other capabilities. One size simply does not fit all,” it said, adding that any such fixed definition would be outdated almost immediately. Last month Senate Commerce Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) introduced a bill that would create two broadband tiers -- one for 200 kbps and one for bandwidth-hungry applications like video. SIA prefers to keep the definition given in Section 706 of the Communications Act, which has no regard for “any transmission media or technology,” because it “contemplates the kind of services that are widely considered broadband by consumers today, and is flexible enough to make sense in evaluating different technologies,” it said.
Satellite services grew 19% in 2006 due to growth in direct-to-home (DTH) video, the Satellite Industry Assn. (SIA) said. The State of the Satellite Industry Report, issued Mon., said DTH grew 17% in 2006, with 10% more subscribers worldwide for a total of about 89 million DTH viewers. High-definition (HD) TV channels are only 2% of global TV channels carried by satellite, said SIA, predicting 600% growth in HDTV channel carriage bvt 2012. Satellite industry revenue growth averaged nearly 11% 2001-2006 worldwide, it said. Satellite production revenue grew 50%- plus in 2006, as more satellites were launched, said SIA. The Titan 4B’s 2005 retirement caused a 2006 launch sector revenue decline of 10%. Voice services drove MSS revenue up 18%, said SIA. Commercial payloads shrank to 25% in 2006 from 31% in 2005, it said. The U.S. accounted for 41% of 2006’s 101 payload launches. Three more geostationary satellites were ordered in 2006 than in 2005; 2 more GEO launch orders were scheduled in 2006 than in 2005, it said. The ground equipment sector grew 14% in 2006 over 2005, for nearly $29 billion in global revenue, it said. Using satellite for cellular backhaul has “fueled the growth in voice services in developing markets,” said SIA. The global appetite for more power, more mobility and convergence continues, it said. The survey was by Futron Corp.
The Air Force hasn’t asked for the money, but Congress should give the service funds to institutionalize a program commercial satellite operators use to access to A.F. data on location of manmade and natural objects in space, the Satellite Industry Assn. said Wed. Congress mandated the Commercial & Foreign Entities (CFE) pilot. The FY2008 Dept. of Defense didn’t request CFE funds. Satellite operators can’t match the A.F. system used to track objects in space, said David Cavosa, SIA exec. dir. Testifying before the House Govt. Reform National Security Subcommittee, Cavosa said “satellite systems represent a critical infrastructure for the United States, its allies and its trading partners.” Besides funding CFE, lawmakers should “expand the level of cooperation and mutual assistance regarding the conduct of activities in space,” Cavosa said. SIA member companies have been working with the govt. to design best practices for reducing the frequency of orbital collisions or close approaches involving commercial and govt. satellites, he said. Some such practices include requiring “all space- faring governments” to invest in adequate space situational awareness tools and capabilities, and requiring countries to share space surveillance data “to the maximum extent possible, after due consideration to national security and economics,” he said.
After being rejected last year when it applied for a loan from the Dept. of Agriculture to offer rural broadband service, WildBlue is trying again, it told us Wed. WildBlue is “working with” the USDA’s rural development program to offer its satellite broadband service, said CFO Mark Adolph. The broadband loan program, part of the 2002 Farm bill, is administered by the USDA’s rural development program, formerly known as the Rural Utilities Service (RUS).