The satellite industry overall seems to be weathering the financial crisis, according to recent reports by the Satellite Industry Association and Euroconsult, a telecom research firm (CD June 9 P 10). But analysts and experts said parts of the industry that rely more directly on consumers seem more vulnerable.

On April 2, 2009, the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade held a hearing on Export Controls on Satellite Technology.

The Satellite Industry Association wants Congress to include a subsidy of $400 per home for purchase of satellite broadband equipment in the economic stimulus package. Congress should “make satellite broadband networks eligible for these grants without specifying an arbitrary minimum speed,” and include a grant program for the upfront cost of the end-user equipment, SIA President Patricia Cooper said in a letter to Congress. “Improvements in speed are not the primary desire” of people who can’t get terrestrial broadband, she said. “Access to an always-on broadband service is much more critical,” she said. Satellite broadband also can provide backup. Including satellite in any broadband proposal could create new jobs, since new installers and call-center workers would be needed to keep up with the increased demand, SIA told Congress.

The Satellite Industry Association wants Congress to include a subsidy of $400 per home for purchases of satellite broadband equipment in the economic-stimulus package. “Ubiquitous nationwide broadband service is achievable today because of satellite broadband networks,” said SIA President Patricia Cooper. Satellite technologies provide the only broadband available to more than 10 million Americans who live or work in remote areas of the country, Cooper said. SIA wants Congress “to make satellite broadband networks eligible for these grants without specifying an arbitrary minimum speed” and include a grant program for the upfront cost of the end-user equipment, Cooper wrote in a letter to congressional leaders. Hughes Network Services and WildBlue Communications offer users the option to lease equipment as a way to get around the high upfront costs, but “a lot of people don’t like leasing,” Cooper said. “At some point if you are going to have the service for a long time you want to buy the equipment.” Speed isn’t the only consideration in broadband incentives, Cooper said. “Incentives for broadband services and deployment must be extended beyond its current focus on tiered or speed-based incentives to emphasize universal access,” she wrote. “Improvements in speed are not the primary desire” of these millions of Americans that can’t get terrestrial broadband, she wrote. “For these Americans, access to an always-on broadband service is much more critical than whether the service hits a particular speed benchmark,” she said. “For these Americans, satellite provides the only alternative to dial-up services.” Satellite broadband also can provide backup, SIA said.

Wireless carriers, cable companies, satellite operators and rural local exchange carriers asked the FCC not to impose Automated Reporting Management Information System reporting requirements on them, as part of an FCC push to gather more data on broadband deployment. But some state commissions and public interest group Free Press said the ARMIS requirements provide useful data and should be expanded to all companies that offer broadband service.

Wireless carriers, cable companies and others asked the FCC not to impose Automated Reporting Management Information System reporting requirements on them, as part of an FCC push to gather more data on broadband deployment. But some state commissions and public interest group Free Press said the ARMIS requirements provide useful data and should be expanded to all companies that offer broadband service.

The FCC should require more than one public-safety device for use in the 700 MHz D-block, the satellite industry told the FCC in comments filed this week. The FCC is re- examining rules on the 700 MHz D-block, which failed to sell at auction. “Only by incorporating satellite capability into many public safety user devices will public safety have the coverage and reliability that is critical to the success and wide-spread utilization of this new network,” Mobile Satellite Ventures said.

The fixed satellite services market is “subject to effective competition,” the FCC said Friday in its annual satellite competition report. “Consumers of communications satellite services continue to realize significant benefits in terms of service choice, innovations fostered by technological change and improvements in both space and ground segment, and improvements in service quality.”

The Satellite Industries Association is urging the FCC to consider requiring that more than one 700 MHz D-block device receive satellite signals. “Satellites are uniquely able to provide cost-effective service in many rural and remote areas, and in the event of terrestrial catastrophes, all first responders should have access to the kind of failsafe network that satellite systems are uniquely able to provide,” SIA told Erika Olsen, aide to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Friday. Terrestrial networks are vulnerable to storms less devastating that Hurricane Katrina, SIA President Patricia Cooper wrote in an ex parte. “Satellites at such times can and do provide critical communications links,” she said. The FCC had required the 700 MHz D-block winner to offer at least one satellite-enabled handset as part of the public-private partnership to build a nationwide interoperable broadband network for public safety. That block’s failure to sell the first time around has the FCC reviewing its 700 MHz D-block rules, with adoption of new rules expected at the commission’s Sept. 25 meeting.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin proposed regional licenses for the 10 MHz of public safety D-block in auction rules he circulated Thursday evening among fellow commissioners. Martin seeks a vote on the item at the Sept. 25 agenda meeting. The FCC would have to seek additional comment before approving final rules. Martin said a D-block auction is unlikely before April and will take place then only if the commission completes work on an order this year. The FCC had hoped to hold a new auction this year. Martin discussed details of the complicated order on a conference call Friday with reporters.