NEWSReport No. IN 98-10 INTERNATIONAL ACTION March 18, 1998 FCC AND STATE DEPARTMENT JOIN SATELLITE INDUSTRY IN PROPOSING GMPCS TERMINAL MARKING SCHEME Last week in Geneva, the Federal Communications Commission and State Department, working closely with the commercial satellite industry and international regulators, agreed to a proposed marking scheme for GMPCS ("Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite") equipment that will enable mobile terminals to easily transit borders without customs restrictions or fees. This proposal will be advanced at the ITU Administrative Council meeting in May where it is expected to be adopted. William E. Kennard, Chairman of the FCC, noted that the Commission will be moving quickly to implement the GMPCS MoU Arrangements through a domestic rule- making procedure. He also stated that "the marking plan adopted in Geneva ensures that a seamless network of global mobile personal communications systems will be available to consumers as they travel the world. I am glad we were able to come to a consensus on a suitable mark and hope it will be adopted expediently so it can be used for systems that are expected to come into service later this year." Ambassador Vonya McCann, of the U.S. State Department, remarked, "The mark that was created and agreed to by the industry, the U.S. delegation, Europe, and the developing world is an appropriate symbol for the registration of these terminals at the ITU on a cost-recovery basis. I look forward to supporting this proposal at Council when it considers the issue in May." The marking scheme is the last, critical step that needs to be taken before countries can implement the specific GMPCS Arrangements that were agreed to last fall under the terms of the GMPCS Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The Arrangements contain specific provisions regarding type approval, licensing and marking of terminals, recommendations on the exemption of terminals from customs restrictions, and access by regulators to appropriate traffic data. The MoU itself, signed by more than 75 Administrations and commercial entities to date, was an outgrowth of the 1996 World Telecommunications Policy Forum called to address the policy and regulatory issues raised by the introduction of global mobile personal communications systems and services by satellite. (over) - 2 - The mark that is being proposed--"GMPCS MoU ITU REGISTRY"--will appear on GMPCS terminal models which have been type-approved by a national administration and registered with the ITU Secretary General under a specific notification procedure. Before the marking and cost-recovery scheme is implemented, the ITU Secretary-General shall request that the ITU Administrative Council formally support the use of the ITU abbreviation for this purpose. While only a national administration can actually grant type-approval for a terminal, the ITU Secretary General will be responsible for collecting, circulating and posting to an electronic database all the data provided by national regulators and the industry as the notification process is completed. The GMPCS MoU, Arrangements and the implementation procedures are available to the public in the Reference Room of the FCC International Bureau, 2000 M St. N.W. - FCC - News Media contact: Rosemary Kimball at (202) 418-0500. International Bureau contacts: Thomas S. Tycz at (202) 418-0735 and Tracey Weisler at (202) 418-0744 .