EchoStar gets FCC go-ahead
Company now free to launch satellite for high-speed Net use
Denver Rocky Mountain News 11/20/02
author: Steve Caulk
(Copyright 2001)
After months of regulatory defeats, Littleton-based EchoStar Communications finally received a positive response from
Washington late Monday.
The Federal Communications Commission reversed an earlier decision that had gone against Echo- Star, saying EchoStar
is now free to launch a satellite with high-speed Internet capabilities.
The FCC had revoked EchoStar's "Ka-band" license in June, saying EchoStar no longer had authorization to operate in the
special high-speed frequency because EchoStar had failed to maintain construction milestones on the satellite.
EchoStar appealed immediately, submitting to the FCC a photograph of the satellite under construction. The FCC said in
its reversal Monday that EchoStar "is constructing and implementing an operational Ka-band system."
The FCC said that EchoStar originally should have supplied more thorough documentation on the course of the satellite's
construction by Space Systems/Loral.
"EchoStar has submitted the power budget for the satellite, which shows that Loral has designed the satellite with
sufficient resources to operate the entire Ka-band payload," the FCC wrote.
EchoStar had hoped to launch the satellite before the end of the year, but Bob Scherman, editor of Satellite Business
News, speculated that the launch could be delayed a few months.
In any case, EchoStar expects to become the world's first company to offer services via the Ka-band frequency.
EchoStar could begin offering high-speed Internet service within six months of a launch, if the company delivers
equipment to consumers soon enough, Scherman said.
"In light of the fact that there's not going to be a merger (with Hughes Electronics), it's crucial for EchoStar to get those
frequencies back," Scherman said.
The FCC and U.S. Department of Justice blocked a merger that EchoStar Chairman Charlie Ergen said was critical to the
development of high-speed Internet service via satellite. EchoStar is trying to provide "remedies" to the FCC's objections,
but analysts say the merger is all but dead.
Scherman said the satellite with Ka-band capability will prove that EchoStar never needed the merger.
"In fact, I think the death of the merger increases the chance that EchoStar will be able to raise the capital and launch the
service, and makes it more imperative that they do it," he said.
The merger would have provided the spectrum needed to launch high-speed Internet service in a cost-effective manner,
the company has said, whereas the Ka-band function on the new satellite will be limited in its capacity. |
