Attachment DISMISS

DISMISS

DECISION submitted by FCC,IB

DISMISS

2004-04-22

This document pretains to SAT-PPL-20040120-00006 for Permitted List on a Satellite Space Stations filing.

IBFS_SATPPL2004012000006_369973

                                     Federal Communications Cornmission
                                           Washington, DC 20554
International Bureau

                                                                                   DA 04-1065

                                                      April 22, 2004



  Mr. Koichiro Matsufuji
  Space Communications Corporation
  2-8, Higashi-shinagawa 2-chome
  Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 140-0002
  Japan


                       Re:      Petition for Declaratory Ruling to Add SUPERBIRD-C Satellite at 144” E.L.
                                orbital location to the Commission’s Permitted Space Station List, File Nos.
                                SAT-PPL-20040120-00006, SAT-AMD-20040331-00071 and SAT-AMD-
                                20040331-00072, Call Sign: S2614

  Dear Mr. Matsufuji:

           On January 20,2004, Space Communications Corporation (“Space Comm”) filed a petition to
  add the SUPERBIRD-C satellite, which is licensed by Japan, to the Commission’s Permitted Space
  Station List (“Permitted List”). On March 3 1, 2004, Space Comm filed two amendments to its petition to
  provide additional technical information. For the reasons discussed below, we dismiss the amended
  petition as defective, without prejudice to refiling.

           Section 25.1 14(c) of the Commission’srules‘ requires all space station applicants, including those
  filing petitions to be added to the Commission’s Permitted List, to submit all applicable items of
  information listed in its subsections. In the First Space Station Reform            the Commission affirmed
  the policies embodied in this rule by continuing to require applications to be substantially complete when
  filed.3 As the Commission noted, the procedures and rules it adopted will enable the Commission to
  establish satellite licensees’operating rights clearly and quickly, and as a result, allow licensees to provide
  service to the public much sooner than might be possible under our previous licensing procedure^.^
  Finding defective applications acceptable for filing is not consistent with the rules and policies adopted by
            I
                       47 C.F.R. 9 25.1 14(c).
            2
                    Amendment of the Commission‘s Space Station Licensing Rules and Policies, First Report and
  Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, IB Docket No. 02-34, 18 FCC Rcd 10760, 10852 (para. 244)
  (2003) (First Space Station Reform Order);International Bureau To Streamline Satellite And Earth Station
  Processing, Public Notice, Report No. SPB-140, October 28, 1998 (emphasizing the obligation to comply with 47
  C.F.R. 9 24.114(c) and stating that applications that did not comply would be dismissed).
            3
                First Space Station Reform Order, 18 FCC Rcd at 10852 (para. 244), citing Space Station Reform
  NPRM, 17 FCC Rcd at 3875 (para. 84).
            4
                       First Space Station Reform Order, 18 FCC Rcd at 10765-66 (para. 4).


the Commission in the First Space Station Reform Order and only serves to create uncertainty and
inefficiencies in the licensing process. Thus, the Commission further emphasized in that Order that non-
U.S.-licensed satellite operators seeking access to the U.S. market by filing earth station applications or
petitions to be added to the Permitted List will be required to provide the same technical information
regarding the foreign satellites as U.S. satellite license applicants provide for proposed U.S. ~atellites.~

         In its amended petition, Space Comm states that it plans to design a geostationary satellite
capable of being maintained in orbit within +/- 0.1 of its assigned orbital longitude.6 Section
                                                      O

25.210(j)( l), however, requires fixed satellite service satellites in geostationary-satellite orbit, such as
SUPERBIRD-C, to be designed to be capable of being maintained in orbit within +/- 0.05" of their
assigned orbital longitudes7 Thus, Space Comm's proposed satellite does not comply with the
Commission's rules. Moreover, Space Comm has not requested a waiver of Section 25.210Cj)( 1).
Sections 25.112(a)(2) and (b)(l) of the Commission's rules state that an application that does not
substantially comply with the Commission's rules will be returned to the applicant as unacceptable for
filing unless the application is accompanied by a waiver request with reasons supporting the waiver.

        Accordingly, pursuant to the Commission's rules on delegated authority, 47 C.F.R. 0 0.261(a)(4),
we find that this petition, File No. SAT-PPL-2OO40120-06, as amended by File Nos. SAT-AMD-
20040331-00071 and SAT-AMD-20040331-00072, is defective. We therefore dismiss the petition as
amended without prejudice to refiling.


                                                              Sincerely,




                                                              Chief
                                                              Satellite Division



        cc:      Ms. Laura B. Sherman
                 3335 N. Randolph Street
                 Arlington, VA 22207
                 U.S.A.




        5
                 See First Space Station Reform Order, 18 FCC Rcd at 10872 (para. 300).
        6
               Application File No. SAT-AMD-20040331-00072(Page 1 of Application and page 6 of the
Technical Appendix).
        7
                 47 C.F.R. 8 25.210(i)(1).



                                                          2



Document Created: 2004-04-22 12:25:19
Document Modified: 2004-04-22 12:25:19

© 2024 FCC.report
This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by the FCC