Inmarsat and Intelsat agreed that privatization of their companies helped...
Inmarsat and Intelsat agreed that privatization of their companies helped promote a competitive market for satellite services. The companies submitted comments in docket 13-13, which addresses the impact of privatization. The proceeding will inform the FCC’s report to Congress under…
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the Open-Market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications (ORBIT) Act. Comments were due Monday. To remain competitive in the current mobile satellite service market, “Inmarsat’s I-4 fleet is continuing to adapt to support IP-based communications,” it said in its comments (http://bit.ly/WsKsGu). Inmarsat’s Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) “provides voice and broadband service at speeds of almost half a megabit per second,” it said: End users “continue to deploy BGAN in new and innovative ways.” Inmarsat has a formal agreement with the ITU “to enable the United Nations agency to help countries better prepare for and respond during disasters,” it said. For its forthcoming Ka-band satellite network, Global XPress, Inmarsat contracted with iDirect, Honeywell, Cobham/Sea Tel and other companies to provide and develop services and equipment for the network, it said. Inmarsat continues to introduce new services over the L band, including the IsatPhone Pro handheld and Low Data Rate services, it added. Privatization “generated a positive impact on the intensely competitive marketplace for communications services,” Intelsat said in its comments (http://bit.ly/WsMiHe). The company’s competitors are using diverse satellite and terrestrial-based technologies, including fiber optic cable, broadband-enabled IP applications, and terrestrial wireless platforms, “to meet the needs of a broad market for communications network services,” it said. Intelsat also said it completed a $3.75 billion capital expenditure satellite investment program over the five-year period from 2008 to 2012. “These findings clearly show that Intelsat has no continuing market advantage from the IGO [intergovernmental organization] status of its Intelsat predecessor and reinforces the conclusion that the goals of the ORBIT Act have been fully achieved."