Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 ) ) ) In the Matter of ) ) PANAMSAT CORPORATION ) File No. SAT-STA-19990407-00036 ) Request for Special Temporary ) Authority to Operate a Space ) Station at 60§ W.L. ORDER AND AUTHORIZATION Adopted: October 25, 1999 Released: October 26, 1999 By the Chief, International Bureau: I.INTRODUCTION 1. By this Order, we grant PanAmSat Corporation authority to operate a satellite at the 60° W.L. orbit location on a temporary, non-interference basis. This authority will expire thirty days before a satellite operating on the same frequencies and serving the same geographic area that has filed a valid prior coordination request at the International Telecommunication Union ("ITU") is launched at either of the adjacent 59° W.L. or 61° W.L. orbit locations. Grant will permit PanAmSat to provide, from a vacant orbit location, a variety of fixed-satellite services that would not otherwise be available. II. BACKGROUND 2. In early 1999, PanAmSat acquired the HGS-1 satellite. This satellite, formerly known as Asiasat-3, was salvaged following a launch malfunction and sent to a geostationary satellite orbit at the 152§ W.L. location. Subsequently, PanAmSat requested, and was granted, authority to drift the satellite, now referred to as PAS-22, into the 60§ W.L. location. PanAmSat asked to move PAS-22 into 60§ W.L. because that location was unoccupied and appeared to be available for a U.S. satellite under ITU regulations. 3. Subsequent to PAS-22's relocation to 60° W.L., PanAmSat requested special temporary authority to operate the satellite for 180 days. The Bureau deferred action on this request, stating that because the request raised a number of complex issues, it would not be in a position to act until the public comment period expired in mid-June 1999 and it had time to evaluate the pleadings. Instead, the Bureau granted PanAmSat special temporary authority to operate PAS-22 on a non-interference basis at 60° W.L. for a period of sixty days. Subsequently, the Bureau granted PanAmSat authority to operate on a non-interference basis for two additional sixty day periods, which would allow the Bureau to consider fully the comments on PanAmSat's underlying request. 4. Andesat, S.A., a consortium of countries from the Andean Community that includes Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, and Venezuela, opposes PanAmSat's use of 60§ W.L. on any ongoing basis. Andesat argues that the United States has lost its priority status at that location under the ITU's coordination procedures and that Andesat plans to launch and operate a satellite at 61° W.L., for which it believes it has ITU date priority. It further asserts that since the planned Andesat satellite and PAS-22 both operate in the same frequency bands and expect to serve overlapping geographic areas, they could not operate without causing each other unacceptable interference. III. DISCUSSION 5. We find that given the ITU filing history surrounding the 59° W.L. to 61° W.L. portion of the orbital arc, it would be virtually impossible for a United States licensed satellite such as PAS-22 to operate at 60° W.L. on an ongoing basis with full interference protection at this time. Under applicable ITU regulations, the United States had up to nine years to bring a satellite into use at 60° W.L. from the date it first filed coordination information with the ITU. On July 27, 1999, the ITU cancelled the U.S. filings, finding that the United States had not brought a satellite into use during the required time. 6. Although the United States may initiate the coordination process for PAS-22 or another U.S. satellite at 60° W.L., other administrations have already initiated the process for satellites operating on the same frequencies and serving overlapping geographic areas as PAS-22. Argentina began the coordination process for a satellite at 59° W.L. in 1993, and Brazil began the coordination process for satellites at 61° W.L. in 1994 and 1997, respectively. Further, Venezuela, as the notifying Administration for the Andean Community, filed a coordination request for a satellite at 61° W.L. in 1998. As such, any U.S. ITU filings would be behind those of other administrations in ITU date priority. Under the ITU's international Radio Regulations, administrations with ITU date priority may operate their systems with full interference protection from systems with later ITU dates. Since co-frequency, co-coverage satellites cannot operate at one degree orbit spacing, as would be the case here, it would difficult, if not impossible, for the United States to coordinate PAS-22 with the other planned satellites. Under these circumstances, any U.S. co-frequency, co-coverage operations would need to be conducted on a non-interference basis. This would, in effect, prevent the U.S. system from operating at all. 7. The United States has not licensed a satellite at 60° W.L. Given the Brazilian, Argentine, and Venezuelan filings, we will not issue a regular U.S. license for a co-coverage, co- frequency U.S. satellite at 60° W.L. Further, we will not attempt to coordinate such a satellite. Nevertheless, we consider here whether the public interest would be served by permitting PanAmSat to continue to use the 60° W.L. orbital location until a satellite from another administration is brought into use at either 59° W.L. or 61° W.L. in accordance with their respective ITU filings. 8. Allowing the temporary use of unused orbital resources permits the public to receive services that would not otherwise be available. Consequently, over the past two decades, the Commission has granted a variety of satellite providers temporary authority to operate at orbit locations that are not regularly assigned to them. In issuing such authority, however, the Commission has been mindful to ensure that temporary operations do not adversely impact regularly licensed satellite systems, and it has conditioned temporary grants accordingly. 9. The Andean Community has indicated it would not object to limited use of PAS-22 at 60° W.L. The Andean Community requests that these limitations include a requirement that PanAmSat terminate operations and remove its satellite from the 60° W.L. orbital location at a fixed date in the immediate future and prohibit other U.S. satellites from occupying 60° W.L. 10. In its application, PanAmSat seeks to use a salvaged satellite at 60° W.L. to provide service from an orbit location that is not now being used. Moreover, neither of the adjacent orbit locations at 59° W.L. or 61° W.L. -- the locations that potentially would be affected by operations of a satellite at 60° W.L. -- is now being used. The closest in-orbit satellite is another PanAmSat satellite at 58° W.L. We expect PanAmSat will coordinate operations between its own two systems during this temporary period. Consequently, we do not expect that any PanAmSat operations at 60° W.L. will cause harmful interference into any other existing satellite operations. 11. Under these circumstances, we see no reason to prevent PanAmSat from providing service from 60° W.L. on a temporary basis to customers that would not otherwise be served. Rather than issuing a series of 180 day grants of special temporary authority, however, we find it simpler to issue a conditional grant to PanAmSat that will automatically terminate when its operations impact those of adjacent satellite operators with ITU date priority. Further, to provide administrations with ITU date priority at adjacent locations sufficient certainty that 60° W.L. will be unoccupied at the time of launch, we require PanAmSat to terminate operations on PAS-22 at least thirty days before a satellite with ITU date priority is launched to an adjacent location. To facilitate any termination of service that may be required, we require PanAmSat to inform its customers, in writing, that service from 60° W.L. is being provided pursuant to a grant of temporary authority. Further, within seven days of receiving notification of the launch date of an adjacent satellite with ITU date priority, PanAmSat must inform its customers that service will terminate 30 days before the launch. We hold PanAmSat responsible for ensuring that all end-users receive this notification, including those that are not directly served by PanAmSat but are served by resellers that access capacity on the PanAmSat satellite at 60° W.L. In granting PanAmSat this conditional authorization, we emphasize that this authority is limited to PAS-22 only and does not convey to PanAmSat any authority to operate another satellite at 60° W.L. IV. CONCLUSION AND ORDERING CLAUSES 12. Consistent with the foregoing discussion, we conclude that the public interest, convenience, and necessity will be served by allowing PanAmSat to provide temporary service on a non- interference basis over PAS-22 from an orbit location that is not being used. Accordingly, pursuant to Section 309 of the Communications Act, 47 U.S.C.  309, and Section 0.261 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.261, IT IS ORDERED that Application File No. SAT-STA-1990407-0036 IS GRANTED and PanAmSat Corporation IS AUTHORIZED to operate the PAS-22 satellite at the 60° W.L. orbit location in the 3.7-4.2/5.925-6.425 GHz frequency bands and the 12.5-12.75 GHz frequency band in ITU Region 1 subject to the following conditions: (a) No harmful interference shall be caused to operations of any in-orbit satellite for which a valid prior request for coordination has been filed in accordance with RR S9.6 of the ITU Radio Regulations and PanAmSat Corporation shall cease operations from the PAS-22 satellite immediately upon notification of interference; (b) This authorization will terminate thirty days before the date on which a satellite with date priority coordination status using these frequency bands (3.7-4.2/5.925-6.425 GHz and 12.5-12.75 GHz in ITU Region 1) pursuant to the ITU international Radio Regulations is launched into either the 59° W.L. or 61° W.L. orbit locations; 13. PanAmSat is required to inform its customers in writing, including end-users receiving service from resellers accessing capacity on PAS-22, that service is being provided pursuant to a grant of temporary authority and will terminate as specified in paragraph 12(b), above. 14. PanAmSat is required to inform its customers, including end-users users receiving service from resellers accessing capacity on PAS-22, within seven days of receiving notification of the launch date of an adjacent satellite with ITU date priority coordination status that service will terminate 30 days before the launch occurs. 15. PanAmSat is afforded thirty days to decline this authorization as conditioned. Failure to respond within this period will constitute formal acceptance of the authorization as conditioned. . 16. This Order is effective upon release. Petitions for reconsideration under Section 1.106 or applications for review under Section 1.115 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.  1.106, 1.115, may be filed within thirty days of the date of the release of this Order (see 47 C.F.R.  1.4(b)(2)). FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Donald Abelson Bureau Chief