Satellite Firm Fights FCC Decision That Favors Rivals

[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]
Inmarsat, a leading satellite communications company, has launched a full-scale attack on the FCC's decision late last year to award 40 megahertz of prime spectrum to two rival companies at no charge. Inmarsat blasted the FCC for "flawed and unsubstantiated assumptions" in splitting the 40 MHz of spectrum between ICO and TerreStar. Each of the companies was awarded 10 MHz in the uplink band and 10 MHz in the downlink band. The FCC awarded the frequencies for satellite and terrestrial communications. The spectrum is in the 2-gigahertz band of spectrum, the most widely used zone for cellular communications. ICO and TerreStar plan to create a hybrid cellular-satellite network called Mobile Satellite Service, or MSS. The hybrid network would allow the duo to provide cheaper service via the earthbound cellular network more than 90 percent of the time. When cell towers are down -- as was the case when Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast last year -- the service is designed to seamlessly switch to the satellite infrastructure.
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