[Satellite TODAY 09-16-10] The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has denied Globalstar’s request for waiver of the Commission’s Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) rules and rejected Open Range‘s request to operate its terrestrial network without a satellite partner, the commission announced Sept. 15.
    “We specifically reject Open Range’s request that we provide authorization for a period of 18 months, which would be beyond the 180-day maximum period permitted by statute.106 We observe that Open Range has been on notice since December 2009, if not longer, that Globalstar would not be able to meet the July 1, 2010, deadline, and thus already has had significant opportunity to seek access to alternative spectrum,” the commission said in its ruling.
    The decision came after the FCC initiated proceedings to make wireless spectrum available for mobile broadband networks using mobile satellite services (MSS) spectrum in a July. The FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Notice of Inquiry following a unanimous vote to consider the mobile broadband spectrum allocation proposal. Three frequency bands that are allocated to the MSS are capable of supporting broadband service, including the LEO bandwidth from 1610-1626.5 megahertz and 2483.5-2500 megahertz.
Globalstar, which plans to launch the first satellites of its second-generation constellation expected within the month, said it was positioned to help fulfill the FCC’s goal of ensuring that the MSS industry remains robust.
    Wireless association CTIA hailed the FCC’s decision. “CTIA has long advocated for enforcement of the Commission’s ATC ‘gating criteria’ to ensure that satellite licensees provide the services for which they were granted licenses. Globalstar’s failure to live up to the gating criteria, and to subsequently live up to the conditions upon which the Commission granted it a waiver, validated CTIA’s concerns. Globalstar could not meet the satellite needs of American consumers and instead sought to parlay a satellite license into a terrestrial network. Had the FCC granted Globalstar and Open Range’s requests, it would have amounted to an end-run of the Commission’s spectrum auctions and would have eviscerated the Commission’s licensing rules,” CTIA President and CEO Steve Largent said in a statement.
    Globalstar competitor Iridium Communications also responded favorably to the FCC’s ruling. “The importance of mobile satellite spectrum is demonstrated time and time again and cannot be overstated. This spectrum is used for the provision of satellite telecommunications services that make it possible for first responders, U.N. relief agencies, and military to provide the critical services of rescuing survivors and coordinating housing, food and medical care quickly in the aftermath of hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes and other disasters,” the company said in a statement.
    Globalstar and Open Range have not commented on the ruling.