WASHINGTON-Two satellite firms last week challenged the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to give reclaimed 2 GHz mobile satellite service spectrum to ICO Satellite Services and TMI Communications and Co.
Globalstar L.L.C., which lost its 2 GHz MSS license but operates mobile satellite services in other frequencies, called the FCC ruling “ill-considered and inconsistent with settled law and policy.” Globalstar provided key communications during Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
Inmarsat Global Ltd. has never held a 2 GHz MSS permit, but wanted access to the spectrum to supplement its existing satellite offerings.
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“The commission prematurely and mistakenly has concluded that licensing the entire 2 GHz band to TMI and ICO does not create an undesirable duopoly,” said Inmarsat.
The mobile-phone industry, which opposed giving the two remaining 2 GHz MSS operators any additional frequencies and previously urged regulators to take back all 70 megahertz of 2 GHz MSS spectrum, did not ask the FCC to reconsider its December ruling. The FCC withdrew 30 megahertz from the 2 GHz MSS allocation in 2003, a time when mobile satellite companies were having acute financial troubles.
As such, ICO and TMI each now have 20 megahertz of MSS spectrum at 2 GHz and the ability to supplement satellite facilities operating in the band with land-based cellular networks. RCR