Attachment Joint Response

Joint Response

RESPONSE TO REPLY COMMENTS submitted by ViaSat, Inc.

Joint Response

2005-03-25

This document pretains to SES-ASG-20041223-01892 for Assignment on a Satellite Earth Station filing.

IBFS_SESASG2004122301892_425290

                                      STEPTO E &JoH N s o N              LLP

                                            A T T O R N E Y S AT   LAW




Pantelis Michalopoulos                                                          1330 Connecticut Avenue. NW
202.429.6494
pmichaloQsteptoe.com
                                             RECEIVED                            Washington, DC 20036-1795
                                                                                           Tel 202.429.3000
                                                                                            Fax 202.429.3902
                                              MAR 2 5 2005                                       steptoe.com




    March 25,2005

    BY HAND DELIVERY

    Marlene H. Dortch
    Secretary
    Federal Communications Commission
    The Portals
    455 12th Street, S.W.
    Washington, D.C. 20554



                       Re:    Application of Hughes Network Systems, Inc., Assignor and HNS
                              License Sub, LLC, Assignee, Consolidated Application for Consent to
                              Assignment of Earth Station Licenses and Associated Special
                              Temporary Authority; IB File Nos. SES-ASG-20041223-01892, SES-
                              ASG-2004 1223-01893, SES-ASG-20041223-01882

    Dear Ms. Dortch:

            On behalf of ViaSat, Inc. (“Viasat”), this letter responds to the Joint Response to
    Comments of ViaSat, Inc. submitted by Hughes Network Systems, Inc. (“I3W              7)
                                                                                        and SkyTerra
    Communications, Inc. (“SkyTerra”) on March 22, 2005 (“Joint Response”). HNS and SkyTerra
    claim incorrectly that the ViaSat Comments are defective because they do not include an
    affidavit. I The Commission’s precedent, however, makes clear that an affidavit is not required
    where the Commission may take official notice of the facts asserted.2 ViaSat’s Comments refer

             I   See Joint Response at 3.

             See, e.g., See Joint Request for Approval of Settlement Agreement between Culoosa
    Television Corp. and Fort Meyers Broadcasting Co., 19 FCC Rcd 19556, at pp. * lo-* 1 1 (Media
    Bureau, 2004) (“Here FMBC’s petition is based on Commission records and precedent, of which
    we may take official notice.”) and In the Mutter of the Application of Mobex Network Services,
    LLC for Modification of the Licenses for Automated Maritime Telecommunications System Cull
    Sign WHV733, 18 FCC Rcd 12305, n. 16 (Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, 2003) (“Mobex
    also argues that Havens failed to comply with the 47 C.F.R. 3 1.939(d) requirement that
                                                                                     (Continued . . .)


WASHINGTON               N E W YORK         PHOENIX           LOS   ANGELES    LONDON            BRUSSELS


Marlene H. Dortch                                                           S T E P T O&EJ O H N S O N L L P
March 25,2005
Page 2


to information that HNS and SkyTerra themselves provided in the applications regarding
ownership interests, and to factual market information with which the Commission is at least
generally familiar already. This is the type of information of which the Commission may take
official notice, and thus no affidavit is necessary. Nevertheless, out of an abundance of caution,
ViaSat is hereby submitting a signed declaration from Keven Lippert, Associate General Counsel
of ViaSat, on the factual accuracy of its Comments, and requests that the Commission associate
the Declaration with its Comments. Finally, even if this were a true defect, HNS and SkyTerra
are wrong that summary dismissal would be appr~priate.~     Please contact the undersigned if you
have any questions about the foregoing.


                                                      Respectfully submitted,




Keven Lippert
Associate General Counsel                             Mark F. Horning
ViaSat, Inc.                                          John D. Clopper
6 155 El Camino Real                                  Steptoe & Johnson LLP
Carlsbad, CA 92009-1 699                              1330 Connecticut Ave., N.W
(760) 476-2214                                        Washington, DC 20036
                                                      (202) 429-3000

                                                      Counsel for ViaSat, Inc.

Enclosures

allegations of fact in a petition to deny be supported by an affidavit. No affidavit is needed in
this case, however, because all of the operative facts -- largely regarding what Mobex filed in
2000 and 2002 -- are of the type for which we can take official notice.”)

           The cases the applicants cite in support of this claim are completely inapplicable
because they apply rules that unlike 47 C.F.R. 0 25.154 do not provide that the Commission will
treat filings that do not meet all applicable procedural requirements as informal objections. See
Application of KGET (Tv),    Inc. for Renewal of License of Station KGET (Tv),      Bakersfield,
California, Memorandum Opinion and Order, 11 FCC Rcd 4168, at 7 3 (1996). The dismissal of
a petitioner in this cases was based on the 1996 version of 47 C.F.R. 0 73.3584(d), which did not
have a provision for informal objections. The applicants also cite Claircom Communications
Group, L.P., Memorandum Opinion and Order, 8 FCC Rcd 7258, at 7 2 (MSD 1993). Again the
dismissal in this case was based on the 1993 version of 47 C.F.R. tj 22.30, which did not have a
provision of informal objections. By contrast, Section 25.154(b) states that the “Commission
     classify as informal objections: . .. [alny pleading not filed in accordance paragraph (a) of
this section [filing requirements for petitions to deny, petitions for other relief or comments].~’


Marlene H. Dortch
March 25,2005
Page 3



cc:
      Thomas S. Tycz
      Jeanette Spriggs
      John P. Janka
      Tom W. Davidson


                                  Declaration of Keven Lippert
       I, Keven Lippert, Associate General Counsel of ViaSat, Inc., hereby declare under the
penalty of perjury that I have read the Comments of ViaSat, Inc. submitted on March 16,2005
and the representations,information, and facts set forth therein are true and correct to the best of
my knowledge and belief.



                                              Keven Lippert
                                              Associate General Counsel
                                              ViaSat, Inc.

March 25,2005



Document Created: 2005-03-30 11:20:50
Document Modified: 2005-03-30 11:20:50

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