Skybridge is pushing FCC to quickly issue conditional licenses to 7 applications from 5 companies for Ka-band service because of rapidly “changing market conditions” and impending departure of 3 commissioners, Vp Mark MacGann told us in interview Tues. MacGann, Senior Vp-Business Development & Mktg. Charlene King and attorney Jeffrey Olsen addressed obstacles facing company following Commission announcement last Thurs. (CD May 4 p3) of proposed rulemaking for spectrum-sharing plan for nongeostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) and fixed satellite service (FSS) and to determine intraservice rules for new applications, including Internet, online access, data, video and telephony. MacGann said with much of company financing still expected to come from Wall St., Skybridge would like to show investors company was moving forward.
National Park Service is considering Triton PCS right-of-way application to build wireless telecom site at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, N.C. Preliminary staff review “indicates that the proposed facility will not have a significant impact on the quality of the human environment,” agency announced May 3. Comments are due July 2. -- (252-473-2111, ext. 132.)
U.S. Dist. Court, N.Y. granted preliminary injunction to Alcatel Fri. after Loral agreed to take companies’ lawsuit to arbitration. Alcatel sued Loral for alleged violation of contract by providing “confidential information” to Lockheed Martin. Parties agreed to order preserving status quo of agreements until April 26.
VoiceStream reported late Mon. that it added 484,700 subscribers in first quarter, increasing its base to 4.4 million as of March 31. Carrier outlined preliminary results and said it would announce full financial report May 7. VoiceStream said it expected pending merger with Deutsche Telekom, which still awaits FCC approval and decision by Committee on Foreign Investment in U.S., to close May 31. Earlier this year, Deutsche Telekom told SEC that deal wasn’t expected to close until “at least” May 31. Meanwhile, VoiceStream said it expected consolidated service revenue for 2001 to grow 120-125% in 2001. It also anticipated cash flow losses to be less than $300 million for year, with most coming in first quarter.
Powertel released preliminary first quarter results showing it closed period with one million PCS wireless subscribers, up 108,000. Revenue and sales reached $151 million, 50% increase in year. Quarterly net loss narrowed to $47.8 million from $52.9 million.
Dates have been set for final reports in Qwest regionwide operation support system testing. KPMG Consulting preliminary results of 13-state regional test will be released June 8, followed by period for addressing exceptions, with final report Aug. 29. In separate Ariz. Qwest OSS testing project, preliminary results on system function will be released June 1 and on system capacity July 11, with final report July 27.
Third-generation DTV receivers showed significant improvement in reception capability over first- and 2nd-generation receivers, according to interim analysis by FCC Office of Engineering & Technology (OET). Using preliminary data collected in field study in Washington area, OET said median signal-to-noise ratio, which generally determines reception quality, improved by 2-3 dB overall and by 6-7 dB for sites with strong-signal, high-multipath characteristics, such as those in which COFDM was supposed to outperform U.S. 8-VSB system. OET said DTV signal was viewable without impairments for 99 of 100 sites for outdoor 30-ft. antenna, and 85% of sites with indoor antenna, even though only 27% of sites had high-quality NTSC picture. “Statistically significant” improvement was attributed mainly to improved channel equalizers in newer receivers. OET said new receivers meant indoor antennas in latest field study outperformed outdoor antennas in 1998. Field study data collection is about 50% complete in D.C. area, OET said, and similar study is planned for Baltimore area.
Allowing JumpTV to stream video of U.S. TV stations into Canada “could cripple, if not destroy, the U.S. and Canadian successful system of free, local, over-the-air television,” NAB said in petition filed Mon. with Copyright Board Canada. NAB said JumpTV’s promises to prevent U.S. consumers from accessing U.S. video from its site couldn’t be proved, and allowing Internet streaming into U.S. would violate international copyright rules.
Rumored sale of GE Americom to SES Astra of Luxembourg was announced Wed. at Grand Hyatt Hotel at Satellite 2001 (CD March 7 p5). Companies said newly formed SES Global acquired total control of GE Americom stock and other assets for $2.7 billion in cash and 15.4 million shares in SES Global. Analysts estimated total value of deal at $5 billion. GE will have 25.1% economic interest and 20.1% voting interest in SES Global. In return, SES Global will acquire SES Astra in 1-to-1 exchange involving cash and stock swap worth $1.4 billion. GE Americom had revenue of $510 million last year. Combined assets of companies will create world’s largest satellite services provider with pro forma revenue of $1.26 billion for 2000, analysts said. It’s 2nd sale in as many days of major U.S. satellite operator as consolidation of industry continues.
Broad group of wireless, GPS, satellite radio and air transport interests urged FCC not to take final action on operation of ultra wideband (UWB) equipment under Part 15 rules without issuing further notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). In letter sent late Tues. to Chmn. Powell, 26 companies and trade groups stressed it would be “premature and inappropriate for the Commission to adopt any final rules at this time.” Agency issued NPRM on UWB operations last May (CD May 11 p1), but it didn’t contain specific regulatory language, group said. Since then, FCC has received large volume of test results on potential interference of UWB operations in both GPS and non-GPS bands. “However, the interested parties cannot logically extrapolate from the various test submissions any comprehensive picture of the direction of the Commission’s final thinking with respect to a potential regulatory framework,” group said in letter obtained by Communications Daily. Companies signing letter include AT&T Wireless, Lockheed Martin, Nortel, Qualcomm, Satellite Industry Assn., U.S. GPS Industry Council, WorldCom.