Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) announced today that it received FCC authorization to launch and operate a next generation L Band satellite at the 101 Degrees W.L. orbit location. This authorization follows the April 5, 2005 Industry Canada authorization to MSV’s Canadian affiliate for an L band satellite at 107.3 Degrees W.L. Use of the two authorizations together enables MSV to replace its existing satellites and utilize the full complement of spectrum available to it today.
The FCC previously granted MSV the first-ever authorization to enhance its satellite system with a terrestrial component that will enable MSV to deploy the most sophisticated and powerful hybrid satellite/terrestrial mobile system ever over North America.
Subscribers will use wireless devices that are virtually identical to current cellular phones in terms of aesthetics, cost, form factor, and functionality.
The beleaguered Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) industry has had its ups and downs. Iridium spent $5 billion to create a service allowing mass-market customers to use portable phones around the world and launched service in 1998. One year later, Iridium filed for bankruptcy. ICO Communications followed two weeks later. Globalstar filed the next year.
Now, with Homeland Security on the front burner, MSS appears hot again.
Mobile Satellite Ventures was the first company to file a petition with the FCC to allow ATCs. The Ancillary Terrestrial Component is a terrestrial repeater. It rebroadcasts the weak satellite signal (on the same frequency) where satellite signals can’t penetrate. XM Satellite radio uses them too. We concluded the problem was that satellite signals were blocked too easily, and we had to find some way to provide coverage. If we could do that, then more customers would buy from us, and we would have economies of scale, explains MSV.
MSV is the leader in ATC technology with numerous patents and patent applications for virtually every element of ATC. The FCC reallocated part of the 2 GHz MSS spectrum (15+15 MHz) to terrestrial fixed and mobile services and retained the bands 2000-2020 MHz and 2180-2200 MHz for mobile-satellite services. The key advantages of ATC are that it allows ubiquitous, interoperability and redundancy to cellular.
Mobile Satellite Ventures says they plan a hybrid wireless network for North America that will use a powerful satellite constellation working in unison with MSV’s patented ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) technology to deliver seamless wireless services to end-users over standard wireless devices.
TerreStar-1 will be the world’s most powerful commercial mobile satellite capable of generating hundreds of spot beams to provide coverage of the fifty United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada. Service to subscribers will be on 1990-2025 MHz and 2165-2200 MHz.
The TerreStar-1 satellite will operate in a Canadian orbital slot licensed to TMI Communications, a Canadian company. The system will be operational by the end of 2008 with a planned service life of fifteen years.
MSV is North America’s premier provider of mobile satellite communications. Delivering service since 1996, MSV offers customers a wide choice of wireless data, voice, fax and dispatch radio services via its existing U.S. and Canadian licensed satellites. MSV provides superior capacity and reliability for customers across North America, northern South America, Central America, the Caribbean, Hawaii and in coastal waters.
In its order, the FCC continued its policy of limiting its MSS space station licensees to 10 MHz of spectrum. This is the same amount of spectrum the FCC assigned to MSV’s existing satellite at 101 Degrees. MSV plans to launch its new satellites by the end of the decade, replacing MSV’s existing satellites, MSAT-1 and MSAT-2. In addition, MSV already holds an FCC authorization at the 63.5 Degrees W.L. orbit location to provide its next generation services to South America.
Authorized Mobile Satellite Service Providers for Canada
| Licence Holder | Satellite System |
|---|---|
| Orbcomm Canada Inc. | ORBCOMM |
| Vistar Telecommunications Inc. | AMSC-MSAT |
| Globalstar Canada Co. | GLOBALSTAR |
| Stratos Wireless Inc. | INMARSAT |
| Canada Satellite Communications Inc. | ANIK E1/TELSTAR 5 |
| Narrowband Telecommunications Research Inc. | AMSC-MSAT |
| Skywave Mobile Communications Inc. | INMARSAT |
| Iridium Satellite Canada Ltd. Short Term Use of Addtional Spectrum |
IRIDIUM |
| Mobile Satellite Ventures Corp. | MSAT-1 |
| Mobile Satellite Ventures (Canada) Inc. | MSAT-1 |
| Connexions by Boeing of Canada Company | TELSTAR 6/ AMC-4/TELSTAR 14 |
| SpaceQuest Canada Inc. | LATINSAT |
.gif)
