WASHINGTON-A bipartisan bill introduced late last week by Reps. Thomas Bliley (R-Va.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.), if passed, could bring competition to the international satellite arena that includes the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization and Inmarsat (formerly known as the International Mobile Satellite Organization).
According to the House Commerce Committee, chaired by Bliley, the Communications Satellite Competition and Privatization Act of 1997, which took a year to craft, would “reform” the monopolistic Intelsat and Inmarsat organizations now that their original 1962 charters to bring global satellite communications to the marketplace have been fulfilled. The two operate the largest group of communications satellites.
“The legislation is designed to fully privatize Intelsat and Inmarsat on a model based on free and fair competition. This bill brings competition to outer space, and the result will be better and cheaper international satellite communications. It’s time to change the current monopoly structure and let the private sector compete,” Bliley stated.
Markey added, “It provides the necessary blueprint for creating jobs, encouraging innovation and private investment, and lowering prices to consumers by embracing the pro-competitive privatization of Intelsat and Inmarsat as the route for fair and robust competition.”
In part, the bill would allow U.S. policy to take open- and closed-market competition challenges into account, would curb international satellite expansion into new services and would instruct the Federal Communications Commission to act as a watchdog for any discrimination against private satellite operators. The commission also is being directed to fight any move toward auctioning international orbital slots and frequencies.
Comsat, the U.S. signatory to Intelsat, could be impacted the most from this measure, in that other satellite companies will be able to contract with the two giants for service and that Comsat could be dropped as a dominant carrier. However, Comsat could gain from proposed ends to any restrictions governing investment and ownership.
