{"id":85208,"date":"2011-03-14T17:52:28","date_gmt":"2011-03-14T09:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/fccs-native-nations-broadband-plan-offers-hope-for-satellite-inclusion\/"},"modified":"2011-03-14T17:52:28","modified_gmt":"2011-03-14T09:52:28","slug":"fccs-native-nations-broadband-plan-offers-hope-for-satellite-inclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/fccs-native-nations-broadband-plan-offers-hope-for-satellite-inclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"FCC\u2019s Native Nations Broadband Plan Offers Hope for Satellite Inclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[03-14-11] <strong>U.S. Federal Communications Commission<\/strong> notice of inquiry issued March 8 contained much more positive language regarding satellite\u2019s role in connecting rural communities compared to the U.S. National Broadband Plan, which disappointed the satellite industry when it was announced last year.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The document, \u201cImproving Communications for Native Nations, CG Docket No. 11-41,\u201d may provide a glimmer of hope for an expanded satellite presence in the FCC\u2019s broadband connectivity solution, according to <strong>White and Case<\/strong> Counsel Maury Mechanick. \u201c[In the notice] the FCC acknowledges and praises satellite\u2019s effectiveness and viability in connecting unserved areas. I read this and wondered if the people who wrote the Native Nations Plan and the National Broadband Plan were on the same planet.\u201d<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Speaking on a SATELLITE 2011 financial panel, Mechanick addressed concerns in the U.S. broadband market caused by the government\u2019s lack of satellite involvement in the National Broadband Plan. \u201cLast year, I was at this conference talking about how difficult it was for satellite to gain respect as a viable solution for the broadband. This year, there is not a whole lot of good news,\u201d said Mechanick. \u201cThe FCC continues to marginalize and ignore the role of satellites for national broadband deployment in the National Broadband Plan. It is actually written into the plan that satellite is well-suited and able to deliver the required speeds, followed by a list of lame excuses why it remains to be a small portion of the national infrastructure investment.\u201d<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Satellite industry analysts have long criticized U.S. government for a lack of understanding of satellite\u2019s capabilities to solve the broadband equation, accusing Washington of focusing too much on downlink speeds that satellite is unable to deliver. Mechanick delivered a nearly identical presentation at SATELLITE 2010, when he said that the FCC\u2019s ignorance of satellite\u2019s potential created the perfect storm against the industry. He accurately predicted that the Australian government would provide a much friendlier broadband model for satellite.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; \u201cWe need to get people in Washington to think out of the box. In Australia, satellite is a critical element of their overall national broadband plan. They will probably fund a dedicated satellite for this purpose,\u201d Mechanick said at last year\u2019s conference.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Future FCC regulatory decisions could impact the future of the MSS sector \u2013 a situation that Mechanick calls \u201cthe MSS mess.\u201d <br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; \u201cThis year is like d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu all over again. We hope to realize who will control the rights to the S-band spectrum, as nobody really knows at this point. We also ask ourselves how many companies will be involved in the sector at the end of the year and whether or not a single company, like Harbinger Capital, will be permitted to control S-band and L-band in the United States,\u201d he said.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mechanick cited <strong>Harbinger<\/strong>\u2019s plans to acquire the bankrupt spectrum holders <strong>Terrastar<\/strong> and <strong>DBSD<\/strong> in a debate over the MSS industry\u2019s sustainability as a stand-alone business. \u201cMy prediction is that MSS satellites will wind up in the hands of the major cellular operators, where the governing metric is competitive advantage. I think this is the best thing that could happen. The cellular industry is making $60 billion a year and when they see ATC spectrum as a small, but worthwhile investment, the spectrum will be incorporated into their cellular infrastructure. It\u2019s a result that would work best for the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[03-14-11] U.S. Federal Communications Commission notice of inquiry issued March 8 contained much more positive language regarding satellite\u2019s role in connecting rural communities compared to the U.S. National Broadband Plan, which disappointed the satellite industry when it was announced last year. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The document, \u201cImproving Communications for Native Nations, CG Docket No. 11-41,\u201d may provide [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85208"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}