New preliminary financing agreement announced by Globalstar Mon. could be beginning of consolidation in mobile satellite service (MSS) industry, industry officials said. ICO Investment Corp. and Iridium Investors are 2 of 5 entities involved in Globalstar’s new $10 million financing plan (CD Feb 19 p13).

Globalstar announced new preliminary financing agreement worth $10 million with 5 different investors. Company recently turned down $55 million in financing from New Valley Corp. due to “inability to reach a final agreement,” latter said (CD Jan 31 p9). Investors include ICO Investment Corp. and Iridium Investments, N.Y.-based Blue River Capital and Loeb Partners, and Columbia Ventures in Vancouver, Wash., Globalstar said. Investors will provide debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing, but funds won’t be available until plan is approved by bankruptcy court. “This DIP financing will give us time to initiate an efficient, transparent process for seeking the best final offer for ultimate ownership of our business,” Globalstar Chmn. Olof Lundberg said. Additional investment offers will be considered via bidding process being set up by company. Bidding should be complete by 2nd- quarter, Globalstar said.

FCC-established effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) and power flux density (PFD) limits create additional risk without additional protection, Northpoint told agency. Limits are part of Commission amendments to rules on co- frequency operations of nongeostationary orbit (NGSO) fixed satellite services (FSS) and geostationary orbit (GSO) and terrestrial systems. “The current EIRP limit increases the number of [multichannel video data and distribution (MVDDS)] transmitters required to cover the country” and would “severely restrict” Northpoint deployment, company said. Requirement that MVDDS transmitters and NGSO user terminals be minimum of 10 km apart restricts MVDDS deployment in urban areas, it said, “eliminating possibility of MVDS service in all major cities.” Northpoint said preliminary analysis cited by Mitre suggesting 14 dBM EIRP limit wasn’t made public and shouldn’t have been considered in decision: “Commission rules (and good public policy) prohibit Commission reliance on nonpublic data and analysis. These rules should be eliminated.”

Time has come for U.S. to get serious about ENUM, protocol that maps domain names to telephony platforms, NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory said this week. In letter to David Gross, State Dept. coordinator for international communications & information policy, Victory said U.S. should consider opting in to e164.arpa e-numbering system now under development. Thirteen ITU member states have opted in so far and are running trials, she said. It’s time for U.S. to become more active, Victory said: “Specifically, the United States should move quickly to address certain key preliminary issues regarding U.S. implementation of ENUM and, if resolved satisfactorily, then formally opt in to e164.arpa.” Victory listed 8 principles aimed at guiding U.S. ENUM implementation: (1) Preserve national sovereignty. (2) Support competition. (3) Promote innovation. (4) Protect users’ privacy and security. (5) Minimize regulation. (6) Preserve opportunities for alternative systems. (7) Allow for interoperability. (8) Maintain stability and security of Internet and telecom systems. ITU opt-in procedures require each member state to enter its specific country code into ENUM tree. U.S. will have to determine how best to coordinate process with 19 countries in Country Code 1, Victory said. Once those issues are resolved, she said, Dept. of State can give necessary notice of U.S.’s decision to opt-in, after which industry can establish trials to provide ENUM services to U.S. consumers and businesses, she said.

Mad Catz Interactive was sued by L.A.-based competitor Pelican Accessories, which charged that Mad Catz had “conspired with cheat code content provider Fire International to misappropriate Pelican Accessories’ proprietary game enhancement encryption codes.” It also accused Mad Catz and Fire of “conspiracy to defraud Pelican Accessories in connection with Mad Catz’s recent acquisition of the GameShark trademark from Interact.” Last month, Mad Catz bought GameShark brand and Web site URL from Recoton for $5 million (CED Jan 24 p3). It also signed multiyear technology deal with Doncaster, England-based Fire International giving Mad Catz N. American rights to Fire’s videogame enhancement technology (CED Jan 27 p9). Pelican said its complaint presented “a laundry list of claims against Mad Catz, Fire International and its principal shareholder, Jason Cooper, for a series of ‘bad acts.'” Complaint charged Fire and Pelican had participated in joint venture for more than 2 years in connection with promotion and development of Codebreaker line of game enhancement products in U.S. Pelican said: “Using confidential information it gained from its fiduciary relationship with Pelican Accessories, Fire is alleged to have disclosed confidential bid information to Mad Catz, thereby allowing it to become the successful bidder for the GameShark trademark. In addition, the suit alleges that Mad Catz and Fire had been negotiating ‘under the table’ for months while Fire was representing to Pelican Accessories that the business relationship between Fire and Pelican was solid and exclusive.” Pelican said “the unprecedented level of unethical behavior by Mad Catz and Fire left Pelican with no alternative but to take this legal action.” Pelican Pres. Chris Richards declined to comment further but said his company “would soon be filing a motion for preliminary injunction to stop Mad Catz from introducing its GameShark line of products based upon trade secrets misappropriated from Pelican.” Pelican also said “retailers who decide to risk carrying the new GameShark products containing proprietary trade secrets from Pelican Accessories may be asked to remove those products from their shelves in the near future.” As for new content for Codebreaker products, Richards said Pelican already had created its own in-house content development group that company said would “exponentially increase its speed to market with new Codebreaker products.” Mad Catz had made no comment by our deadline.

Preliminary ultra-wideband (UWB) test results from FAA indicated ground-penetrating radar device caused “very, very severe” interference to aircraft at certain distances, officials said Wed. In tests on airborne helicopter at distance of 100 feet from GPR device, “it totally blocks the communications,” FAA Program Mgr. George Sakai told us. He stressed test results were preliminary and that there would be follow-up round before formal report was given to NTIA in May.

Verizon won preliminary federal court injunction blocking enforcement by Washington state regulators of tough telecom customer account privacy rules that took effect Jan. 1. U.S. Dist. Court Judge Barbara Rothstein, Seattle, said Verizon’s petition had raised “serious questions” about rules’ constitutionality and showed carrier could suffer irreparable harm if rules were enforced while court appeal was pending. Privacy rules adopted by Wash. Utilities & Transportation Commission (WUTC) offer level of protection beyond what FCC specifies. WUTC rules prohibit carriers from selling or using sensitive customer information, such as calling patterns, for marketing purposes unless customer explicitly consents to such use. FCC rules, in contrast, allow use of sensitive data for marketing unless customer specifically forbids such use. Verizon said WUTC rules infringed on its First Amendment commercial free speech rights. It said WUTC had overstepped its legal authority and had hindered company’s ability to speak with and serve its customers. Judge Rothstein said enforcing rules during pendency of Qwest’s appeal would pose more harm to Verizon’s free speech rights than to privacy interests of customers, who would remain protected by FCC’s privacy rules while case proceeded.

PCCW said it wouldn’t approach Cable & Wireless (C&W) again on possible takeover. Commenting on speculations over weekend that it would make another offer to C&W after its preliminary approach was rebuffed in Jan., Hong Kong’s PCCW said Mon.: “It is not in the company’s interest for the continuing uncertainty regarding any possible takeover offer for C&W to continue.” It said outcome of any further approach was “unpredictable” and would lead to “continuing uncertainty.” PCCW also denied speculations about its interest in Japan Telecom, calling it speculation that was “completely unfounded” and said it had “never had any discussion in relation to any transaction involving Japan Telecom.” Company requested temporary suspension of trading of its shares on Hong Kong stock exchange Mon. to review and clarify situation, which it said had caused “confusion” in market. It said trading of its shares would be resumed today (Tues.).

Judgment against Japanese FileRogue file-sharing service was obtained by Recording Industry Assn. of Japan (RIAJ) and 19 member companies. Peer-to-peer file-swapping service, operated by Japan MMO, was sued by RIAJ and other content owners for copyright infringement in Nov. 2001. In April 2002, court imposed preliminary injunction suspending FileRogue service, which survey found had almost 70,000 copyrighted music files available for download. Court now has issued interlocutory judgment that settled defendant’s liability. Damages and other sanctions haven’t been determined.

Publication schedule for final DVD-Audio recording specification hasn’t been announced, DVD Forum said in response to our query on Nikkei report citing sources who said Version 1.0 spec would be decided by end of March. Spokesman for DVD Forum confirmed that preliminary Version 0.9 was published last July, as we have reported. He also confirmed that DVD-Audio recording format would support 8 different codecs that ran gamut from highest-quality to lengthiest recording time -- range from one hour of uncompressed music to 30 hours with compression. One of codecs permits 7 hours of recording but with resolution of Red Book stereo CD.