Attachment letter

letter

LETTER submitted by SES Americom

letter

2004-06-29

This document pretains to SAT-MSC-20040210-00027 for Miscellaneous on a Satellite Space Stations filing.

IBFS_SATMSC2004021000027_382149

                                                                                                                 PARTNERS RESIDENT I N WASHINGTON
PAUL. W E I S S . R I F K I N D . W H A R T O N 8 GARRISON L L P                                                 HENK BRANDS                 DALE M . SARRO
                                                                                                                 PATRICK 5 . CAMPBELL        JOSEPH J. SIMONS
                                                                          I 8 8 5 AVENUE OF W E AMERICAS         K E N N E M A. G A L L 0     PHILLIP L. SPECrOR
1615     L STREET. NW                                                             NoHnTa(. Nr 1  0  0  1     ~   ROBERT P. PARKER            STUART 0 . STEINGOLD
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SIMON H. RIFKIND            (1050l995)                                     FACSIMILE I 3 3 I)53 43 00 2 3
LOUIS s. WEISS              (irn27-10~~
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                                                                               May 13,2004                       .NOT AN ACTIVE MEMBER OF THE DC BAR.




                Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary
                Federal Communications Commission
                445 12th Street, N.W.
                Washington, D.C. 20554

                      In the Matter of Inmarsat Ventures Limited, File No. SAT-MSC-20040210-00027

                Dear Ms. Dortch:

                               On February 10,2004, Inmarsat Ventures Limited (“Inmarsat”) filed a
               letter with the Federal Communications Commission (the “Commission”) in which
               Inmarsat claimed to have complied with the initial public offering (“PO”)     requirements
               of Section 621 of the ORBIT Act, despite having conducted a private equity placement
               and a quasi-public debt offering in lieu of the equity IPO that is required by the Act.’
               On April 5,2004, SES AMERICOM, Inc. (“SES AMERICOM”), filed comments
               urging the Commission to reject Inmarsat’s transactions as being non-compliant with
               the express terms of Section 621 .* The Commission has yet to rule on this matter.



                I
                                 Letter from Alan Auckenthaler, Inmarsat, to Ms. Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, Federal
                                 Communications Commission.
               2
                                 Comments of SES AMERICOM, Inc., File No. SAT-MSC-200402 10-00027 (filed Apr. 5,
                                 2004).


               Doc #:DC1:141758.1


I


    P A U L . WEISS. RIFKIND. WHARTON 8 GARRISON LLP

                                                                                               Page 2


                            As the Commission considers this matter, SES AMERICOM would like
            the record to reflect recent public statements by the Chief Executive Officer of Intelsat,
            Mr. Conny Kullman. In stating that Intelsat currently intends to complete its own
            equity IPO, rather than pursue a buyout similar to the one conducted by Inmarsat, Mr.
            Kullman explained that “the ORBIT legislation is very clear in requiring an P O . It uses
            that term very ~learly.”~  He further noted that, in order for Intelsat to consider such a
            buyout in the future, Intelsat would “need a ruling from the FCC [on the Inmarsat
            request] which is different from the interpretation we have

                        The foregoing statements of Intelsat -- being the other major company
         besides Inmarsat still subject to the ORBIT Act -- lend strong support to the position
         taken by SES AMERICOM and others in the instant proceeding: that Inmarsat’s
         transactions do not suffice to satisfy the clear and unambiguous directive of Cmgress
         that Inmarsat conduct an IPO of equity securities. SES AMERICOM again urges the
         Commission to adopt this position, and to act swiftly to reject Inmarsat’s statement of
         compliance with the ORBIT Act.

                                                             Respectfully submitted,



                                                             Phillip L. Spector
                                                             Patrick S. Campbell
                                                             Brett M. Kitt

                                                             Attorneysfor SES AMERICOM, Inc.

        cc: Parties on Attached Service List




        3
                  Intelsat Accelerates IPO Plans, at http://www.thedeal.com (May 12, 2004).
        4
                  COMMUNICATIONS      DAILY,May 12, 2004.




        Doc #:DCl:141758.1


                               CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

           I hereby certify that on this 13th day of May, 2004, I caused a copy of the
    foregoing letter to be served by first-class mail on the following:

    Alan Auckenthaler                              Bruce A. Henoch
    Vice President & General Counsel               Assistant General Counsel
    Inmarsat, Inc.                                 Telenor Satellite Services, Inc.
    1050 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.                  1101 Wootton Parkway, 10th Floor
    Suite 1000                                     Rockville, MD 20852
    Washington, D.C. 200036
                                                   Attorney for Telenor Satellite Services, Inc.
    Gary M. Epstein
    John P. Janka                                  Lon C. Levin
    Alexander D. Hoehn-Saric                       Vice President
    Latham & Watkins LLP                           Mobile Satellite Ventures Subsidiary LLC
    555 Eleventh Street, N.W., Suite 1000          10802 Park Ridge Boulevard
    Washington, D.C. 20004-1304                    Reston, VA 20 191

    Attorneys for Inmarsat Ventures Limited        Bruce D.Jacobs
                                                   David S. Konczal
    William M. Behan                               Shaw Pittman LLP
    Vice President, Washington Affairs             2300 N Street, N.W.
    John Deere Public Affairs Worldwide            Washington, D.C. 20037
    1808 I Street, N.W.
'   Washington, D.C. 20006                         Attorneys for Mobile Satellite Ventures
                                                   Subsidiary LLC
    Eliot J. Greenwald
    Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman, LLP           Qualex International
    3000 K Street, N.W., Suite 300                 Portals I1
    Washington, D.C. 20007                         Federal Communications Commission
                                                   445 12th Street, S.W., Room CY-B4202
    Attorney for Deere h Company                   Washington, D.C. 20554

    Alfred M. Mamlet                               Policy Branch
    Chun Hsiang Mah                                Satellite Division, International Bureau
    Steptoe 8c Johnson LLP                         Federal Communications Commission
    13330 Connecticut Ave, N.W                     445 12th Street, S.W.
    Washington, D.C. 20036                         Washington, D.C. 20554

    Attorneys for Stratos Mobile Networks, Inc.
    and Stratos Communications, Inc.


                                                   Renee Thomas



    Doc #:DC1:14 175 8.1



Document Created: 2004-07-13 15:27:12
Document Modified: 2004-07-13 15:27:12

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