Attachment Joint Reply

Joint Reply

REPLY submitted by Stratos, Telenor, BT Americas, MVS USA

Joint Reply

2006-11-22

This document pretains to SES-STA-20061101-01933 for Special Temporal Authority on a Satellite Earth Station filing.

IBFS_SESSTA2006110101933_537818

                                          Before the
                             Federal Communications Commission
                                    Washington, D.C. 20554


In the matter of                      )

Stratos Communications, Inc.          g   File No. SES—STA—20061103—01946 (Call Sign EO50249)

Telenor Satellite, Inc.               g   File No. SES—STA—20061027—01898 (Call Sign EQ50276)

BT Americas Inc.                      ;   File No. SES—STA—20061101—01933 (Call Sign EO60076)

MVS USA, Inc.                         § File No. SES—STA—20061106—01955 (Call Sign EO50348)

                                           JOINT REPLY

                Stratos Communications, Inc., Telenor Satellite, Inc., BT Americas Inc., and

MVS USA, Inc. (collectively, the "Licensees"), together with Inmarsat Ventures Limited

("Inmarsat"), oppose the "clarification," and imposition of additional conditions, sought by

Mobile Satellite Ventures Subsidiary LLC ("MSV") on the renewal of special temporary

authority ("STA") to provide BGAN service over the Inmarsat—4 spacecraft ("I—4").

               The Licensees have successfully provided BGAN service over I—4 pursuant to

STA for approximately six months. Since the transition of services from I—3 to I—4, Inmarsat

services, including BGAN, have continued to serve a vital, and growing, role for U.S. federal,

state and municipal governments, relief organizations and commercial users. Worldwide, there

are nearly 6,000 active BGAN subscribers, with, on average, 350 to 400 new terminal activations

each month. Where no other communications service can reach, or where weather or disasters

preclude use of ter;estrial networks, Inmarsat‘s MSS system provides an instantaneously—

available, reliable and highly secure communications link.

               MSV does not oppose renewal of the BGAN STAs. Rather, MSV asks the

Commission to modify the conditions applicable to these authorizations, and attaches: (i) MSV‘s


pending Petition for Clarification, which seeks modification of the Licensees‘ current BGAN

STAs;‘and (ii) MSV‘s Reply to the June 19, 2006 Joint Opposition to that Petition. The

Licensees and Inmarsat fully responded to that pleading in their Joint Opposition, and

incorporate the Joint Opposition by reference for inclusion in the record of these proceedings.‘

               MSV also makes two additional requests. First, MSV asks that the Commission

not modify Telenor‘s STA to increase the number of terminals from 5,000 to 20,000. Through

this pleading, Telenor confirms that it seeks only to renew its existing STA for 5,000 terminals.

Thus, MSV‘s request is moot.

               ‘Second, MSV requests that the Commission not extend the STAs beyond

November 30, 2006, citing that date as the "official" end of this year‘s hurricane season. MSV‘s

request is contrary to the facts and the law, and would disserve the public interest by removing a

critical communications tool from the hands of first responders, public safety officials, relief

workers, and commercial users.

               As an initial matter, renewal of the STAs is consistent with Commission policy

due to the delay in processing the underlying BGAN applications. The Commission has long

recognized that grant of the STAs is appropriate in cases, such as this, where the underlying earth

station applications have remained pending for a long period of time." This "extraordinary




\ Joint Opposition of the Licensees and Inmarsat, File Nos. SES—STA—20060310—00419 et al.
  (filed June 19, 2006) ("Joint Opposition").
* Amendment ofPart 25 ofthe Commission‘s Rules and Regulations, 6 FCC Red 2806, 2810
  € 27 (1991). When adopting the current STA rules, the Commission observed that, "The
  majority of STA requests filed since the institution of this [stricter STA] policy have either
  been extensions of previously granted STAs for certain types of facilities or have been for
  non—routine applications that cannot be granted within sixty days," and expressly stated that it
  would consider STA requests "[when an application cannot be routinely granted within sixty
  days." Id. §27 & n.69. All underlying BGAN applications have been pending for well over
  60 days. Thus, the Licensees‘ BGAN STA requests meet the Commission‘s standard for STA.


circumstance" warranting grant of the STAs in the first place has only taken on greater force as

delay has continued.

               Moreover, contrary to MSV‘s claims, the STA requests and subsequent pleadings

never stated that the STAs should be granted solely because of the oncoming hurricane season.

Rather, hurricanes are #//ustrative of the types of natural and other disasters for which BGAN is a

powerful tool to support emergency preparedness and recovery. It is of critical importance that

BGAN continue to be available to first—responders and relief organizations as part of their

disaster preparedness and recovery programs, regardless of the nature of the disaster.

Furthermore, since the STAs were issued, BGAN has begun to serve the daily needs of national

security providers to, among other things, ensure the security of U.S. borders, ports, and other

critical aspects of the United States infrastructure. Extension of the STAs is required to support

those needs as well.

               As a final matter, and as further discussed in the Joint Opposition, by all accounts,

each Licensee has complied with the conditions of its STA. Nowhere does MSV dispute this —

neither in MSV‘s Comments, its Petition for Clarification, nor in its Reply. MSV again has

failed to demonstrate that the current conditions have proven inadequate to constrain the

potential for harmful interference to MSV. Simply stated, in contrast to the substantial public

interest in ensuring that BGAN services continue to be available to U.S. government agencies,

relief organizations, and industry, there are no countervailing harms to continued authorization of

the provision of BGAN to the United States.

                                              * *# w ow ow




               For these reasons, and the reasons set forth in the Joint Opposition, the

Commission should renew the STAs without granting MSV‘s request to "clarify," or add further


conditions to, the renewal of the Licensees‘ STAs and without limiting the term to November 30,

2006.

                                                Respectfully submitted,


       Is/                                             Is/
Linda J. Cicco                                  Alfred M. Mamlet
BT AMERICAS INC.                                Marc A. Paul
11440 Commerce Park Drive                       Brendan Kasper
Reston, VA 20191                                STEPTOE & JOHNSON LLP
703—755—6733                                    1330 Connecticut Avenue, NW
                                                Washington, D.C. 20036
                                                (202) 429—3000
                                                Counsel to Stratos Communications, Inc.

       Is/                                             Is/
Keith H. Fagan                                  Lawrence J. Movshin
Senior Counsel                                  Robert G. Morse
TELENOR SATELLITE, INC.                         WILKINSON BARKER KNAUER, LLP
1101 Wootton Parkway                            2300 N Street, N.W., Suite 700
10th Floor                                      Washington, D.C. 20037
Rockville, MD 20852                             (202) 783—4141
(301) 838—7860                                  Counsel to MVS USA, Inc.



        Is/
Diane J. Cornell
Vice President, Government Affairs
INMARSAT, INC.
1100 Wilson Blyvd, Suite 1425
Arlington, VA 22209
(703) 647 4767

November 22, 2006


                                 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

        I, Jeffrey A. Marks, hereby certify that on this 22"" day of November, 2006, I caused to

be served a true copy of the foregoing "Joint Reply," 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

Bruce D. Jacobs                       Jennifer A. Manner
David S. Konczal                      Vice President, Regulatory Affairs
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP   Mobile Satellite Ventures Subsidiary LLC
2300 N Street, N.W.                   1002 Park Ridge Boulevard
Washington, DC 20037—1128             Reston, Virginia 20191




                                           yA MA
*Via Electronic Mail



                                        Jei#rey B. Marks



Document Created: 2006-11-22 11:21:44
Document Modified: 2006-11-22 11:21:44

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