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REPLY TO COMMENTS submitted by Inmarsat Ventures Limited

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2006-06-21

This document pretains to SES-STA-20060605-00922 for Special Temporal Authority on a Satellite Earth Station filing.

IBFS_SESSTA2006060500922_506790

                                              Before the
                         FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
                                  Washington, DC 20554

    In the matter of

Deere & Company
                                                     )
                                                     )     File No. SES—STA—20060605—00922


                          REPLY OF INMARSAT VENTURES LIMITED

                   Inmarsat Ventures Limited ("Inmarsat") replies to the comments of Mobile

Satellite Ventures Subsidiary LLC ("MSV"). In this proceeding, Deere & Company ("Deere")

seeks special temporary authority ("STA") for a period of 30 days to test a maximum of 20

receive only, non—common carrier, L—Band mobile earth terminals using the Inmarsat—3 ("I—3")

satellite at 142° W.L.

                  No one opposes Commission grant of Deere‘s application. MSV is the only party

to comment and MSV requests that the Commussion include in its grant pronouncements that are

of no relevance to this request for testing authority.‘ Specifically, MSV asks that the

Commission "make clear that:" (i) Commission grant of the STA "should not be construed as a

Commission endorsement" regarding the coordination status of I—3 at 142° W.L.; and (ii)

"Inmarsat must coordinate the Inmarsat 3F4 with other L band operators before Deere can




‘      Inmarsat disagrees with MSV‘s characterizations regarding the ongoing L—Band spectrum
       dispute between Inmarsat and MSV. See MSV Comments at 2—5. Inmarsat has fully briefed
       this matter in prior pleadings and incorporates by reference a recent pleading that
       summarizes Inmarsat‘s positions on the issues involved. See Opposition of Inmarsat, File
       No. SES—MFS—20060118—00050, et al. (filed Mar. 16, 2006) (with Consolidated Opposition
       of Inmarsat, File No. File No. SES—MFS—20051207—01709, et al. (filed Feb. 2, 2006) attached
       thereto as Exhibit A).


    provide commercial service in the United States with this satellite."" There is no basis for

    MSV‘s requests.

                   As an initial matter, Deere‘s proposed testing operations do not raise any

interference issues. Inmarsat has been successfully operating its I—3 spacecraft at 142° W.L. for

approximately three months, since the time Inmarsat decommissioned the Inmarsat—2 spacecraft

that had been successfully operating at that location for the previous four years. Nowhere does

MSV allege that Inmarsat‘s operations at 142° W.L. have caused harmful interference.

Moreover, Deere requests STA to use the very same limited portion of the L—Band that the

Commission has authorized for Deere‘s use since 2001." Deere‘s proposed operationsin that

frequency segment over I—3, therefore, cannot reasonably be expected to have an adverse effect

on MSV.

                  Furthermore, MSV‘s requests are superfluous and inconsistent with Commission

policy regarding the authorization of L—Band services. First, it would be premature and

prejudicial for the Commission to place a condition on Deere‘s future "commercial" operations

that are not even the subject of this application, as MSV suggests. The Commission should not

include language in Deere‘s STA based on the mere speculation that Deere might file an

application for commercial authority at some future date. Second, granting MSV‘s requests

regarding coordination would contravene longstanding Commission precedent, which provides

that completion of coordination is not a condition precedent to (or a guid pro quo for) issuance of




     MSV Comments at 1.
_      See File No. SES—LIC—20010112—00051 (authorizing Deere‘s provision of L—Band services
       over the Inmarsat—2 spacecraft at 98° W.L.).


    an authorization to provide MSS in the United States." The Commission confirmed this policy in

    its recent grant of MSV‘s application to operate a new and uncoordinated L—Band MSS

    spacecraft at 63.5° W.L.* That application was granted just last year without any obligation

 being imposed on MSV to effectuate coordination with Inmarsat prior to launching or operating

MSV‘s spacecraft. Here (as the Commission found in MSV‘s case)® no other L—Band system in

the vicinity of the United States could use the L—Band spectrum currently used by Inmarsat (and

 for which Deere already holds an FCC authorization) to serve the United States.

                   As a final matter, imposing a coordination condition on Deere‘s future operations

would be fundamentally unfair, as it would provide MSV with sole control over whether Deere

could ever provide commercial services over the I—3 satellite at 142° W.L. Contrary to what

MSV implies, Inmarsat has repeatedly attempted to coordinate its North American fleet

oper;ations with MSV, but MSV has rebuffed those efforts citing "other" business issues that

MSV wishes to address prior to continuing such a dialogue.‘ Moreover, such conditions would

unjustifiably treat Deere (and Inmarsat) differently than the Commission has treated other MSS

applicants.®



*      Establishment ofPolicies and Service Rules for MSS in the 2 GHz Band, 15 FCC Red 16127,
       16192 148—49 (2000); SatCom Systems, Inc., 14 FCC Red 20798, 20813 «[ 30 (1999)
       ("TML‘); Amendment ofthe Commission‘s Rules to Establish Rules and Policies Pertaining
       to MSS in the 1610—1626.5/2483.5—2500 MHz Frequency Bands, 9 FCC Red 5936, 6018 «
       211 (1994); AMSC Sub. Corp., 8 FCC Red 4040, 4043 « 17 (1993).
°*     Mobile Satellite Ventures Subsidiary LLC, Application for Authority to Launch and Operate
       an L—band Mobile Satellite Service Satellite at 63.5° W.L., 20 FCC Red 479 (2005). MSV
       recently surrendered this authorization after making a business decision not to meet its
       licensed milestone schedule.
©      Id. at 482 § 8.
‘      See Inmarsat Consolidated Response, File No. SES—STA—20051216—01756 et al., at 9—11
       (Jan. 6, 2006).
      iSee, e.g., cases cited, supra, notes 3 & 4.


                                             *   s    o%k


                For the foregoing reasons, the Commission should grant STA to Deere without

including the coordination pronouncements requested by MSV.

                                                     Respectfully submitted,




Diane J. Cornell                                            P\Jhnka
Vice President, Government Affairs                   Jeffrey A. Marks
INMARSAT, INC.                                       LATHAM & WATKINS LLP
1100 Wilson Blvd, Suite 1425                         555 Eleventh Street, N.W.
Arlington, VA 22209                                  Suite 1000
Telephone: (7O3) 647 4767                            Washington, D.C. 20004
                                                     Telephone: (202) 637—2200

June 21, 2006


                                CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

       I, Jeffrey A. Marks, hereby certify that on this 21" day of June, 2006, I caused to be

served a true copy of the foregoing "Reply of Inmarsat Ventures Limited" by first class mail,

postage pre—paid (or as otherwise indicated) upon the following:

James Ball*                                       Stephen Duall*
International Bureau                              International Bureau
Federal Communications Commission                 Federal Communications Commission
445 12"" Street, S.W.                             445 12"" Street, S.W.
Washington, DC 20554                              Washington, DC 20554

JoAnn Ekblad*                                     Richard Engelman*
International Bureau                              International Bureau
Federal Communications Commission                 Federal Communications Commission
445 12"" Street, S.W.                             445 12"" Street, S.W.
Washington, DC 20554                              Washington, DC 20554

Gardner Foster*                                   Howard Griboff*
International Bureau                              International Bureau
Federal Communications Commission                 Federal Communications Commission
445 12" Street, S.W.                              445 12"" Street, S.W.
Washington, DC 20554                              Washington, DC 20554

Fern Jarmulnek*                                   Andrea Kelly*
International Bureau                              International Bureau
Federal Communications Commission                 Federal Communications Commission
445 12"" Street, S.W.                             445 12"" Street, S.W.
Washington, DC 20554                              Washington, DC 20554

Karl Kensinger*                                   Scott Kotler*®
International Bureau                              International Bureau
Federal Communications Commission                 Federal Communications Commission
445 12"" Street, S.W.                             445 12"" Street, S.W.
Washington, DC 20554                              Washington, DC 20554

John Martin*                                      Robert Nelson*
International Bureau                              International Bureau
Federal Communications Commission                 Federal Communications Commission
445 12" Street, S.W.                              445 12®" Street, S.W.
Washington, DC 20554                              Washington, DC 20554


Roderick Porter*                      Cassandra Thomas*
International Bureau                  International Bureau
Federal Communications Commission     Federal Communications Commission
445 12" Street, S.W.                  445 12"" Street, S.W.
Washington, DC 20554                  Washington, DC 20554

Eliot J. Greenwald                    Jennifer A. Manner
Bingham McCutchen LLP                 Vice President, Regulatory Affairs
3000 K Street, N.W.                   Mobile Satellite Ventures Subsidiary LLC
Suite 300                             1002 Park Ridge Boulevard
Washington, DC 20007—5116             Reston, Virginia 20191
Counselfor Deere & Company

Bruce D. Jacobs
David S. Konczal
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
2300 N Street, NW.
Washington, DC 20037—1128
Counselfor MSV




                                           yAAA
*Via Electronic Mail



                                        Jefl eyV@ Marks



Document Created: 2019-05-16 20:50:11
Document Modified: 2019-05-16 20:50:11

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