Attachment Exhibit A

This document pretains to SES-STA-20100715-00909 for Special Temporal Authority on a Satellite Earth Station filing.

IBFS_SESSTA2010071500909_829531

                                              EXhibit A

                 PETITION FOR WAIVER OF SECTIONS 25.137 AND 25.114

         Pursuant to Section 25.137 of the Federal Communications Commission‘s
  ("Commission" or "FCC") rules, earth station applicants "requesting authority to operate with a
  non—U.S. licensed space station to serve the United States" must demonstrate that effective
  competitive opportunities exist and must provide the same technical information required by
  Section 25.114 for U.S.—licensed space stations.‘ Intelsat herein seeks authority to provide
  launch and early orbit phase ("LEOP") services —— not commercial services —— to the United
  States, and thus believes that Section25.137 does not apply.

          To the extent the Commission determines, however, that Intelsat‘s request for authority to
  provide LEOP services on a special temporary basis is a request to serve the United States with a
  non U.S.—licensed satellite,Intelsat respectfully requests a waiver of Sections 25.137 and 25 114
  of the Commission‘s rules." The Commission may grant a waiver for good cause shown." The
— Commissiontypically grants a walver where the partlcular facts make strict compliancé
  inconsistent with the public interest." In granting a waiver, the Commission may take into
  account con51derat10ns of hardship, equity, or more effective implementation of overall policy on
  an individual basis." Waiver is therefore appropriate if special cireumstances warrant a deviation
  from the general rule, and such a deviation will serve the public interest.

         In this case, good cause exists for a waiver of both Section 25.137 an(d Section 25.114.
  With respect to Section 25.114, Intelsat seeks authority only to provide LEOP services for the
  RASCOM—QAF 1R satellite. Intelsat has already provided with its STA request all the technical
 information relating to the LEOP services that Intelsat will be performing. The information
 sought by Section 25.114 is not relevant to LEOP services. Moreover, Intelsat does not have —
 and would not easily be able to obtain —— such information because Intelsat is not the operator of
 the RASCOM—QAF 1R satellite, nor is Intelsat in contractual privity with that operator. Rather,
 Intelsat has a contract with Telespazio, which was hired by Thales, the manufacturer of the        ‘
 RASCOM—QAF 1R satellite, to conduct LEOP services for the satellite.                      —

         The information that Intelsat is not including is not required to determine potential .
  harmful interference. The Schedule S information for this satellite would pertain to the operation
  of the RASCOM—QAF 1R satellite at its final orbital location. However, the present application
  for LEOP services involves communications prior to the satellite attaining its final location in
 the geostationary orbit. In other words, during the LEOP mission, the earth station will not be

  47 C.F.R. § 25.137 (emphasis added).
 247 C.F.R. §§ 25.137 and 25.114.
 347 C.F.R. § 1.3.
 * NE. Cellular Tel. Co. v. FCC, 897 F.2d 1164, 1166 (D.C. Cir. 1990) ("Northeast Cellular").

  * WAIT Radio v. FCC, 418 F.24 1153, 1159 (D.C. Cir. 1969); Northeast Cellular, 897 F.2d at
  1166.


 communicating with a satellite located in the geostationary orbit. Rather, it will be transmitting
 to a satellite traveling on its "transfer orbit" or "LEOP path", which starts immediately following
 its separation from a launch vehicle, and ends when the satellite reaches its geostationaryorbital
 location. Moreover, as with any STA, Intelsat will perform the LEOP services on a non—
 interference bas1s                                           y
                                                              )


         Because it is not relevant to the service for which Intelsat seeks authorization, and
 because obtaining the information would be a hardship, Intelsat seeks a waiver of all the
 information required by Section 25.114. As noted above, Intelsat has provided the required
 technical information that is relevant to the LEOP services for which Intelsat seeks authorization.

           Good cause also exists to waive Section 25.137. Section 25.137 is designed to ensure
  that "U.S.—licensed satellite systems have effective competmve opportunities to provide
— analogous services" in other countries." Here, there is no service being provided by the satellite;
  it is simply being placed in its orbital location after separating from the launch vehicle. Thus, the
 purpose of the information required by Section 25.137 is not implicated here. For example,
 Section 25.137(d) requires earth station applicants reques‘hng authority to operate with a non—
 U.S.—licensed space station that is not in orbit and operating to post a bond.‘ The underlying
 purpose in having to post a bond—i.e., to prevent warehousing of orbital locations by operators
 seeking to serve the United States—would not be served by requiring Intelsat to post a bond in
 order to provide approximately 10 days of LEOP servicesto the RASCOM—QAF 1R satellite.

         It is Intelsat‘s understanding that RASCOM—QAF 1R will operate against ITU filings
 held by RASCOM, an intergovernmental organization, and will be operated by RASCOMStar, a
 Mauritius company.* It is also Intelsat‘s understanding that at 2.8° E.L., RASCOM—QAF 1R will
 not serve the United States. Thus, the purposes of Section 25.137—to ensure that U.S. satellite
 operators enjoy "effective competitive opportunities" to serve foreign markets and to prevent
 warehousing of orbital locations serving the United States—will not be undermined by grant of
 this waiver request.                                                                       |
         Finally, Intelsat notes that it expects to operate with the RASCOM—QAF 1R satellite
 using its U.S. earth station for a period of approximately 10 days. Requiring Intelsat to obtain
..copious technical and legal information from an unrelated party, where there is no risk of
 harmful interference and the operations will cease after approximately 10 days, would pose
 undue hardship without serving underlying policy objectives. Given these particular facts, the
 waiver sought herein is plainly appropriate.




 $47 CER. §25.137(a).
 " See 47 C.F.R. § 25.137(d)(4).
 ® Mauritius is a WTO—member country.



Document Created: 2019-04-26 23:57:54
Document Modified: 2019-04-26 23:57:54

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