As Satellite Firms Move to Add Cellular Service, Critics Cry Foul

[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jesse Drucker jesse.drucker@wsj.com]
The Federal Communications Commission ruled that Mobile Satellite Ventures, a tiny telecommunications company offering service on bulky satellite phones, can use the license for its slice of the airwaves, known as spectrum, for more than just satellite service. MSV can use it for cellular calling as well, or to provide other services such as wireless access to the Internet. Critics say something is wrong with this picture. "The FCC's giveaway… to satellite providers like MSV was an outrage," charges J.H. Snider, a director of research for the New America Foundation, a Washington think tank. "It was like the federal government leasing mining rights to federal lands and later throwing in oil rights for free." Existing cellular-service providers that were threatened with new competition also have objected. They have said that if the FCC wanted the satellite operators' radio spectrum to get wider use, the agency should retrieve it and re-offer it to cash bidders. Satellite operators counter that giving them additional rights would benefit consumers, by providing more telecommunications choices and potentially better cellphone coverage. The controversy spotlights a new twist in the long-running debate over the lucrative market in radio-wave spectrum, which carries signals for everything from cellphone calls to TV broadcasts to baby monitors and garage-door openers.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113945404340369175.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
(requires subscription)