WASHINGTON-House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley (R-Va.) said the privatization of the International Maritime Satellite Organization and the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization being negotiated by the Clinton administration may be inconsistent with U.S. law and could complicate an international satellite-reform bill that is estimated to save consumers $700 million over the next 10 years.
A committee spokesman said Bliley’s March 31 letter to Secretary of State Madeline Albright has not been responded to yet.
In the letter, Bliley said the “practical means” for the administration to accomplish change is through the international satellite-reform bill that he is cosponsoring with Rep. Edward Markey (R-Mass.).
The bill was approved by the committee on March 18 and Bliley predicts House passage of it this spring.
The measure is supported by U.S. mobile satellite companies and others because it would end monopoly access to Inmarsat and Intelsat facilities by Comsat Corp., the U.S. signatory to both United Nations-chartered organizations.
Iridium L.L.C., a global satellite phone operator, is currently pressing the Federal Communications Commission not to allow Comsat to enter the American market to offer message, tracking and control services.
