FOCUS-New satellite systems challenge Teledesic
Reuters Story - November 21, 1997 04:28
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Multi-media satellite systems
like Alcatel's Skybridge and Motorola's
Celestri have been guaranteed access to scarce radio
frequencies, ensuring competition against Microsoft
chairman Bill Gates' Teledesic, International Telecommunication
Union (ITU) officials said on Friday.
The landmark agreement, largely reached by the United States
and European countries led by France, was adopted at the
month-long World Radiocommunication Conference of the ITU, a
U.N. agency, in Geneva. The meeting was to end later on Friday.
Some 2,000 delegates from 142 countries, including industry
lobbyists, took part in the conference, whose decisions
translate to treaties which would take force immediately and
bind 188 ITU member countries for two years.
The meeting effectively accepted a European demand that
Teledesic, the "Internet-in-the-Sky" project of Gates and
telecommunication pioneer Craig McCaw, should lose a de facto
monopoly on access to radio broadbands given to it at ITU talks
in 1995. The $9 billion scheme is backed by Boeing .
"The conference emphasised very clearly that the bands have
to be on a shared basis with no monopoly. Whatever systems are
using the bands have to work it out," ITU spokeswoman Francine
Lambert told reporters after the consensus decision was reached.
"It (the conference) has adopted a treaty which will allow
systems to continue to develop and be deployed. Competition is
assured."
Stakes were high in the tough negotiations, in which
high-speed multi-media communications systems sought access to
coveted radio frequencies for hundreds of satellites planned for
launch from 2001, according to delegates.
The pact means that for the first time, geostationary, or
fixed-orbit, satellites already in space must share bandwidths
with new, nongeostationary systems like Skybridge and Celestri.
Pascale Sourisse, Skybridge president and chief executive
officer, welcomed the breakthrough, for which a company team had
lobbied hard as part of the 60-member French delegation.
"This is a very important step because we will have access
to frequencies and the regular framework is now finalised," she
told reporters. "The innovation is (that) we will be able to
re-use frequencies used by other systems. It has not been done
before. We think investors will be very encouraged."
European delegates had complained that the 1995 agreement,
which allocated a sub-band in the "Ka" radio band to
non-geostationary satellite systems, had only suited Teledesic's
technical specifications and granted it an effective monopoly.
Skybridge has raised 10 percent of its $3.5 billion capital,
according to the French chairwoman. The Alcatel Alsthom-led
consortium project set to launch a network of 64 satellites has
seven other partners, including Aerospatiale [AERP.CN] of
France, Loral Space & Communications Corp and Japan's
Mitsubishi Electric Corp and Toshiba Corp .
Mark MacGann, Skybridge vice-president for strategic
relations, said that under the pact, 90 percent of the 20-30 MHZ
band could be shared. "This represents somewhat of a revolution
from a radio regulatory point of view. Sharing frequencies is
possible now."
But power limits will be placed on the nongeostationary
systems so as to prevent them causing interference to
established operators. The limits on output -- theoretical for
now because the satellites are not yet in place -- will be
reviewed at the next talks in 1999 after ITU studies are done.
The compromise has upset companies of General Motors
subsidiary Hughes Electronics and General Electric's
Americom, which operate geostationary systems, delegates said.
U.S. Ambassador John Bryant, a former Texas congressman, led
a 90-strong delegation including officials from Teledesic and
General Electric. Washington had opposed power limits at first.
"On the whole it would seem like a satisfactory compromise,
with the caveat that we remain quite concerned about power
limits," Bryant told Reuters.
"We ended up being very satisfied as it allows all three
nongeostationary systems to get into business, which was our
stated intention. Teledesic has the position it wanted as do the
others. They are all in very good positions to compete."
The four-week meeting, called the World Radiocommunication
Conference, is held every two years to set global rules for use
of scare radiocommunication frequencies. It ends on Friday.
Under the deal, hammered out mainly by the United States and
European countries, geostationary or fixed-orbit satellites
already in space must share bandwidths with new nongeostationary
systems like Skybridge and Celestri. But power limits will be
placed on the nongeostationary systems, ITU's Lambert said.
European countries led by France fought a de facto monopoly
on access to bands they said had been allocated to Teledesic, a
$9 billion scheme backed by Boeing , at ITU talks in 1995.
Skybridge chairwoman Pascale Sourisse told reporters she
welcomed the breakthrough. "The innovation is we will be able to
re-use frequencies used by other systems -- it has not been done
before. But the regulatory framework is now finalised." |
