WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission urged a federal appeals court here to reject a wireless industry challenge to mobile satellite service permits, saying mobile-phone carriers lack standing to bring legal action and are using the licensing proceeding to attack a separate agency decision allowing satellite operators to devote some frequencies to an “ancillary terrestrial component.”
FCC lawyers said mobile-phone firms “may not turn this case, which involves the question of whether the commission properly issued licenses that had been applied for and processed under established rules, into its challenge to the ATC order.”
The mobile-phone industry argues MSS licensing and ATC rulings are inseparable-though the court declined to consolidate the two appeals-in view of a leading mobile satellite company’s admission that MSS is doomed unless the sector gets regulatory relief. Some MSS companies had to file for bankruptcy, but are seeking to get back on their feet.
Mobile-phone operators, needing additional spectrum for third-generation wireless systems and facing potential competition from MSS operators armed with ATC, had petitioned the FCC to reclaim all 70 megahertz set aside at 2 GHz for MSS. The FCC ultimately decided to reallocate 30 megahertz of that total to terrestrial services.
Mobile-phone carriers, which have spent billions of dollars on license rights acquired from the U.S. government, claim the FCC is obliged to auction satellite frequencies converted for use in land-based networks.
In its Jan. 22 brief, the FCC said the potential benefits of MSS justified the grant of licenses, “even though some licensees might ultimately lack the wherewithal to build the expensive and risky systems.”
Oral argument in the case is set for May 7.
