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If you need the complete document, download the WordPerfect version or Adobe Acrobat version, if available. ***************************************************************** Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20054 In the Matter of ) ) LORAL ORION SERVICES, INC. ) File No. SAT-LOA-19910305-00044 ) SAT-MOD-19990819-00086 Request for final authorization ) CSS-91-009 to launch and operate the ) Orion F2 satellite at 12 Degrees W.L. ) ORDER AND AUTHORIZATION Adopted: October 18, 1999 Released: October 18, 1999 By the Deputy Chief, International Bureau: I. INTRODUCTION 1. By this Order, we grant Loral Orion Services, Inc. ("Loral Orion") final authority to launch its Orion F2 satellite into the 15ø W.L. orbital location and to provide in-orbit testing at that location consistent with a grant of special temporary authority issued by the Bureau on October 4, 1999. This Order does not, however, grant Loral Orion final authority to provide commercial service from the 12ø W.L. orbit location to which it is assigned or from any other orbit location using the Orion F2 satellite. Today's authorization will permit Loral Orion to launch and test its Orion F2 satellite system without causing harmful interference to neighboring satellites while it continues to coordinate with adjacent operators. II. BACKGROUND 2. In September 1995, Loral Orion received a conditional license to launch and operate the Orion F2 satellite at the 12ø W.L. orbit location. The grant was conditioned on the completion of consultation with INTELSAT and demonstration of financial qualifications to meet the construction, launch and first year operating costs of Orion F2. 3. By letter dated August 13, 1999, Loral Orion requested final authorization to launch and operate the Orion F2 satellite, stating that it has satisfied the conditions set forth in its conditional authorization. On August 19, 1999, Loral Orion filed an application to make technical modifications to the satellite. According to Loral Orion, these modifications reflect final spacecraft design decisions that will maximize efficient use of orbital resources, increase service options, and provide greater flexibility to customers. 4. On October 14, 1999, EUTELSAT filed a petition to deny Loral Orion's request for final authorization. EUTELSAT asserts that it has been operating a satellite since the early part of 1999 at the 12.5o W.L. orbital location using the same frequencies as Orion F-3 will use and serving overlapping geographic areas. EUTELSAT argues it has date priority under the international coordination procedures administered by the International Telecommunication Union ("ITU"). According to EUTELSAT, this allows it to operate its system with full interference protection from operations of Orion F2. EUTELSAT states it is already serving customers in Canada and Europe. EUTELSAT argues that the Commission cannot grant Loral Orion's application under these circumstances. 5. EUTELSAT also argues that Loral Orion has not met all of the conditions required for the issuance of a final authorization. Specifically, EUTELSAT states that Loral Orion has not successfully completed international coordination of the Orion F2 satellite as required by Section 25.111 of the Commission's rules. According to EUTELSAT, the Commission is obliged to complete coordination procedures or agreements before issuing unconditional authorization, or alternatively impose appropriate conditions on the license. EUTELSAT argues that grant of Loral Orion's application to launch and operate would disserve the public interest because the Commission would be expressly permitting one of its licensees to interfere with the operations of a non-U.S.-licensed satellite. Finally, EUTELSAT argues that not a single domestic or international user will benefit from the grant since Loral Orion will not be able to operate without receiving a debilitating level of interference from EUTELSAT's operations at 12.5ø W.L. 6. Columbia Communications Corporation ("Columbia") filed a petition for imposition of conditions on any grant of Loral Orion's application for the Orion F2 satellite. Specifically, Columbia requests that any grant of final authority be conditioned on Loral Orion's relinquishment of its final authorization to operate a satellite at 47ø W.L. According to Columbia, that authorization has been warehoused for nearly a decade and a half since its original conditional grant in 1985. 7. On October 4, 1999, the Commission's International Bureau ("Bureau") granted Loral Orion special temporary authority ("STA") to perform in-orbit testing of the Orion F2 satellite at 15ø W.L. The Bureau stated that authority to conduct in-orbit testing necessarily carried with it authority to launch the satellite in advance of Commission action on Loral Orion's underlying application for launch authority. EUTELSAT filed a petition for reconsideration of the Bureau's STA grant and an emergency request for stay of the STA grant pending action on its petition for reconsideration of the STA. III. DISCUSSION 8. In 1995, the Commission found that the public interest would be served by granting Loral Orion a conditional authorization to construct, launch and operate Orion F2 at 12ø W.L. The Commission found that Loral Orion possessed the requisite legal and technical qualifications to hold a satellite license. It granted Loral Orion an authorization conditioned on the completion of consultation with INTELSAT under Article XIV(d) of the INTELSAT Agreement and a demonstration of financial qualifications to meet the construction, launch and first year operating costs of Orion F2. 9. In its August 13, 1999 letter requesting final authority, Loral Orion informed the Commission that the United States, INTELSAT and Loral Orion had completed consultation under Article XIV(d). Loral Orion also submitted a balance sheet as of December 31, 1998 showing total current assets of $1.2 billion which is more than adequate to cover Loral Orion's projected cost of $183 million to construct, launch, and operate the Orion F2 satellite for one year. In any event, Orion F2 is scheduled for imminent launch, making any showing of financial qualifications superfluous. Accordingly, we find that Loral Orion has satisfied the conditions set forth in its conditional authorization. 10. We disagree with EUTELSAT's assertion that full technical coordination with all affected administrations is required before launch authority may be granted. Such coordination is not required by the Separate Systems decision and has never been a condition for the grant of launch authority. Also, Section 25.111 of the Commission's rules, which EUTELSAT cites, does not require it. Rather, Section 25.111 specifies that a radio station may not receive protection from interference caused by radio stations authorized by other Administrations unless coordination agreements are successfully completed with individual administrations. Indeed, Section 25.111 recognizes that launch authority may be granted without full coordination in stating that "any radio station authorization for which coordination has not been completed may be subject to additional terms and conditions as required to effect coordination of the frequency assignments with other Administrations." Further, we agree with EUTELSAT that operation of Orion F-2 at its assigned 12o W.L. orbit location may cause interference to EUTELSAT's operations at 12.5o W.L. Consequently, we will not grant Loral Orion authority to operate Orion F-2 on a commercial basis at 12o W.L. or at any other location not now assigned to Loral Orion for a Ku-band satellite. Should Loral Orion seek to operate Orion F-2, it must file a separate application to do so. If the Commission denies this application, we will require Loral Orion to relocate Orion F-2 to another Ku-band orbit already assigned to Loral Orion. In the case of Orion F2, coordination with other administrations has not been completed.. 11. In the interim, we grant Loral Orion authority to launch the Orion F2 satellite into the 15ø W.L. orbital location and conduct in-orbit testing consistent with the Bureau's STA grant on October 4, 1999. The Commission has previously granted temporary authority for satellite operators to conduct in-orbit testing at unoccupied orbital locations subject to the conditions that such testing not cause harmful interference with existing satellite operations and that the satellite operator must terminate operations immediately upon notification of any harmful interference. As stated in the October 4, 1999 STA grant, we do not believe that permitting Loral Orion to conduct in-orbit testing at 15ø W.L. will cause harmful interference to existing satellite operations. Moreover, we conditioned Loral Orion's testing authority on it terminating transmissions upon notification of harmful interference. 12. Finally, we deny Columbia's petition for imposition of conditions on the final authorization of the Orion F2 satellite. The entire focus of Columbia's petition is on Loral Orion's authorization at 47ø W.L. We fail to see the connection between that orbital location and the authority for Loral Orion to launch Orion F2. IV. CONCLUSION AND ORDERING CLAUSES 13. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that application File No. SAT-LOA-19910305- 00044 IS GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART and Loral Orion IS AUTHORIZED to launch the Orion F2 satellite into the 15ø W.L. orbital location and perform in-orbit testing consistent with the Bureau's October 4, 1999 grant of Special Temporary Authority. 14. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Loral Orion shall not operate the Ku-band transponders on the Orion F2 satellite for any purpose other than the in-orbit testing authorized in the October 4, 1999 Special Temporary Authority. Use of the Ku-band transponders to provide commercial service will require additional Commission authorization. 15. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that action on Loral Orion's application for modification of certain technical characteristics on the Orion F2 satellite IS DEFERRED and will be addressed at the time Loral Orion requests authority to provide commercial service. 16. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that EUTELSAT's Petition to Deny IS GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. 17. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Columbia's Petition for Imposition of Conditions IS DENIED. 18. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Petition for Reconsideration of the Bureau's October 4, 1999 Special Temporary Authority IS DISMISSED AS MOOT. 19. Loral Orion is afforded thirty days from the date of release of this order and authorization to decline this authorization as conditioned. Failure to respond within this period will constitute formal acceptance of the authorization as conditioned. 20. The Order is issued pursuant to Section 0.261 of the Commission's rules on delegated authority, 47 C.F.R.  0.261, and 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 30 days of the date of the release of this order (see 47 C.F.R.  1.4(b)(2)). FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Anna M. Gomez Deputy Bureau Chief