Mobile satellite service is an idea and a technology that today lies buried under the apprehension and disappointment of a number of major business deals gone bad. But about 10 years ago, the mobile satellite industry had an optimistic outlook on the future,...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission issued a notice of proposed rule making to ICO Global Communications regarding its request that mobile satellite service operators in the 2 GHz band be allowed to re-use their assigned frequencies for ancillary terrestrial services.ICO said the outcome of this...
The mobile satellite industry finally had something to smile about last week when the International Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission granted eight MSS operators licenses in the 2 GHz frequency band, opening the door for the deployment of broadband and other enhanced services.The...
For several years, it seems there has been little good news to report about the mobile satellite industry. It is one that has been marked by marginal peaks and inconceivable valleys. Losses in this industry are talked about in terms of billions of dollars,...
WASHINGTON-The Bush administration came under pressure from key Senate Democrats last week to require the Department of Defense to surrender spectrum sought by mobile-phone firms for third-generation wireless systems, a development with heavy political overtones and a sense of urgency that could further isolate...
WASHINGTON-As policy-makers last week voiced support for a plan to move the Pentagon off spectrum sought by the mobile phone industry for third-generation wireless systems, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Henry H. Shelton warned Congress that further loss of frequencies will compromise military capability...
WASHINGTON-The cellular industry, putting the brakes for now on major legislation to avoid unnecessarily provoking the Pentagon, is floating a stop-gap plan on Capitol Hill that urges federal regulators to postpone next month's ruling on third-generation mobile-phone spectrum and that calls on the departments...
WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association late Friday petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to reallocate spectrum assigned to struggling mobile satellite firms to cellular phone carriers struggling to capture additional frequencies for third-generation wireless systems.The anticipated move by the mobile-phone industry comes in response...
WASHINGTON-In an unexpected twist pitting billionaire Craig McCaw against a mobile-phone industry he once towered over, sources say the Federal Communications Commission may propose making some mobile satellite service spectrum-including that held by McCaw's New ICO and other struggling satellite firms-available for third-generation wireless...
New ICO Global Communications Holdings Ltd. has hand-delivered a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael K. Powell, asking the commission to allow mobile satellite service operators to use MSS spectrum for terrestrial-based services, citing the past failure of Iridium L.L.C. and the present...
NEW YORK-ICO-Teledesic Global Ltd. and New ICO Global Communications Holdings Ltd. have withdrawn plans for the public sale of securities related to their planned merger.New ICO also has applied for a waiver of the bankruptcy court requirement that it sell its Class A Common...
NEW YORK-Although some satellite companies, like Globalstar L.P. and Iridium, have stumbled badly while chasing mobile telephony, provision of broadband communications remains a meaningful business opportunity for these extraterrestrial carriers, even in the United States.The inability of land-based wireline and wireless connectivity alternatives to...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Globalstar could be the last hope for global mobile personal communications by satellite (GMPCS) survival in Africa. During a heated debate at the Satcom Africa '99 conference held recently in Midrand, South Africa, many participants concluded that after the setbacks experienced by...
For more than six months the mobile satellite industry has been trying to polish its image after the well-publicized failure of Iridium L.L.C. tarnished the reputation of all those involved in the industry.While Iridium shuffled in and out of bankruptcy court and deliberated with...
EL SEGUNDO, Calif.-Hughes Space and Communications Co. and New ICO said they have signed an agreement calling for Hughes to build at least three more satellites for New ICO and modify 11 other spacecraft currently in production for the revamped New ICO system.Financial terms...
The Federal Communications Commission released its service rules for the allocation of spectrum in the 2 GHz band for nine mobile satellite service providers, including Globalstar L.P., Celsat America Inc. and ICO Services Ltd.The rules allocate 3.5 megahertz of bandwidth in both the uplink...
BSWDBellSouth Wireless Data L.P. has named cellular industry veteran Donald Kovalevich as its new president and chief executive officer. Former BSWD President and CEO William Lenahan left the company in May to take a position at another telecom firm. Since then, J.D. Gardner has...
LONDON-Amid the flickering satellite communications business, Craig McCaw's ICO-Teledesic Global Ltd. appears to be shining bright after receiving more than $1 billion in investor financing led by McCaw's Eagle River Investments L.L.C., Clayton Dubilier & Rice Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates' Cascade...
WASHINGTON-The shift of satellite export jurisdiction from the Commerce Department to the State Department, and the resulting loss of U.S. business, has triggered a legislative backlash that could return oversight to Commerce.The fallout from GOP-led legislation in 1998 to transfer satellite export jurisdiction from...
LONG BEACH, Calif.-Sea Launch said it successfully completed its return to flight/systems readiness review, which was part of an investigation conducted by the Sea Launch Failure Review Oversight Board following a March 12 launch that failed to place an ICO F-1 communications satellite into...
WASHINGTON-A major satellite export reform bill passed by the GOP-led Congress two years ago has blown up in the face of lawmakers at a time when Republicans and Democrats are frantically scrambling to champion the high-tech agenda.Since March 1999, when satellite export oversight was...
As Globalstar Telecommunications Ltd. faces a funding gap, a proposed merger between two emerging satellite operators adds yet another twist in the short history of the mobile satellite industry.Globalstar recently revealed its funds could run dry by the fourth quarter, but the company said...
LONDON-ICO Global Communications announced the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Delaware has approved ICO's plan of reorganization.The plan and related plans of arrangement in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands have been approved by more than 95 percent of the creditors and shareholders who voted on...
NEW YORK-SkyBridge L.P. is building a network and a business model designed to sidestep the negatives associated with other land and space alternatives for local loop broadband communications delivery.The Bethesda, Md., company expects to launch commercial service covering temperate latitudes sometime during 2003, at...
