WASHINGTON-The House telecommunications subcommittee last week passed legislation to inject more competition in the international satellite market.
The bill, co-sponsored by House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley (R-Va.) and Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), would privatize the International Maritime Satellite Organization and the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization.
“The goals of this bill are to get government out of the business of providing commercial services that the private sector is able to provide, and to remove barriers to competition,” said Bliley at last Wednesday’s markup of the bill.
Bliley added, “We want to remove barriers in both our own market and in markets around the world, so that our satellite competitors will have increased market access opportunities.”
Today, Bethesda, Md.-based Comsat Corp. and other signatories to Inmarsat and Intelsat have certain privileges and legal immunities not enjoyed by their private-sector competitors. Inmarsat and Intelsat are chartered by the United Nations.
Iridium L.L.C., a global satellite phone consortium headed by Motorola Inc., has urged the Federal Communications Commission not to allow Comsat to use Inmarsat facilities to offer satellite paging and tracking services to the trucking and transport markets.
“While we are encouraged by today’s progress, some serious issues remain,” said Betty Alewine, president of Comsat. “These issues include the question of abrogation of contracts, service restrictions and overly optimistic time tables that would be imposed on the international satellite organizations to privatize.”
