[Satellite TODAY 01-12-10] TerreStar has cleared a foreign ownership regulatory hurdle with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and expects to receive its Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) authorization in the near future, TerreStar General Counsel Doug Brandon told Satellite News.
    “I am confident that we will get the ATC authorization very soon,” said Brandon.
    The importance of TerreStar’s ATC application was highlighted in an Oct. 12 e-mail from TerreStar Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Alexandra Field to Karl Kensinger, associate chief of the FCC’s satellite division. In the e-mail, Field told Kensinger that TerreStar might default on its TerreStar-2 satellite loans if the company did not receive an ATC license by Jan. 20. TerreStar secured loans in February 2008 for TerreStar-2 from EchoStar Corp., Harbinger Capital Partners Master Fund and Harbinger Capital Partners Special Situations Fund.

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