Industry Canada receives three bids to develop spectrum and orbital positions

Telesat Canada and a company fronted by Barrett Corp. find themselves locked in a battle to secure the rights to the 12 GHz broadcasting spectrum at the 72.5 degrees west orbital slot, a fight that is part of a larger Industry Canada licensing process relating to valuable satcom real estate. Pegasus Development Corp., a subsidiary of Pegasus Communications Corp., has also submitted an expression of interest, but the company is giving no public clue as to its intention. The department announced in DGRB-002-03, released in July, that it was seeking expressions of interest to develop the 12 GHz broadcast spectrum in three orbital locations and the 17 GHz broadcasting-satellite service (BSS) band in several other orbital slots (RoW, July 22/03). Industry Canada already tried to licence the 17 GHz BSS band in several slots in the last year (DGRB-003-02; RoW, June 11/02), but awarded no licences to Telesat or Bell ExpressVu LP after they filed expressions of interest (RoW, Aug. 19/02). Telesat and Pegasus provided very little detail about their proposed plans for the orbital positions, citing competitive concerns, while Barrett was more forthcoming with its proposed plans for the 72.5 degrees west orbital position. Telesat and Barrett indicated the orbital locations in which they are interested, but Pegasus refused to provide such information. Barrett Xplore, a subsidiary of Barrett, has recently launched Xplornet, "a fixed wireless high-speed Internet wireless ISP service" targeted at remote and underserved communities in Canada. It says in its application that it could use the slot to provide the required satellite feeds into these areas. These feeds would be the primary Internet backbone connection and backhaul for the service. Barrett also touts its experience in the industry as one of its key attributes. It states that it has a long history in and thorough understanding of the Canadian satellite market, having operated as the prime satellite equipment distributor for satellite TV operator Star Choice Communications Inc. More recently, the company acquired Canadian-based LinCsat Communications Inc., a provider of high-speed Internet via satellite. "The company intends to form partnerships with existing BSS satellite operator(s) in order to provide timely entrance to market and to provide additional and complementary resources and competencies," Barrett writes. "The company has already identified several existing facilities that will provide an early deployment date, each of which will provide varying levels of coverage from the 72.5 degrees west orbital position, as well as varying operational capacity and lifetimes." Barrett notes that it is less interested in the 129 and 138 degrees west orbital locations. There would need to be a completely different business approach for the development of the 129 degrees west position, while the 138 degrees west slot doesn’t provide sufficient coverage to urban areas. The company adds that it will also meet Canadian ownership and control requirements. "The company is interested in the 72.5 degrees west orbital position, as it allows the best orbital coverage of the largest population base, and dual satellite opportunities for delivery of the greatest number of complementary services and applications (such as high-speed Internet services)," reads Barrett’s September 18 expression of interest. Telesat’s experience in the satellite industry speaks for itself and goes back more than 30 years. The company currently operates several broadcast satellites including the Nimiq 1 in the 91 degrees west slot and Nimiq 2 in the 82 degrees west position. If Telesat wins access to the 72.5 degrees west orbital location, the company plans to purchase a new satellite and call it Nimiq 3. The satellite operator has also applied for the 12 GHz band in the 129 degrees west orbital position. " … an integral part of Telesat’s proposed system is to develop the 72.5 degrees west orbital position as a new Canadian resource thereby making new BSS capacity available to Canadian broadcasters, at a time when new services (i.e. specialty channels, load signals) and new technologies (i.e. HDTV and iTV) are poised for growth," Telesat writes in its application. Pegasus, formed in 1991, has grown into one of the larger satellite TV providers in the United States. It holds the exclusive rights to provide direct-to-home (DTH) satellite services via the DirecTV platform to 7.5 million households in 41 states. Last year, its annual revenue exceeded US$800 million, counting it as one of the fastest growing media companies in North America in the last decade. Telesat only interested party for 17 GHz band Industry Canada received little interest in developing the 17 GHz band as only Telesat filed an expression of interest. The company is essentially reaffirming the application it filed on August 1, 2002 (RoW, Aug. 19/02) with one exception. As Report on Wireless speculated at the time, Telesat continues to show interest in using the 17 GHz BSS band in the two orbital slots (82 and 91 degrees west) for which it already has been licensed. Telesat also wants the rights to 107.3, 111.1 and 118.7 degrees west orbital locations. The company has, since its 2002 application, decided to remove the 114.9 degrees west orbital slot from consideration and replace it with the other two positions for which it has applied. Telesat’s interest in the 17 GHz band at these two locations is contingent on it receiving licences for both slots in the 12 GHz band.

Industry Canada receives three bids to develop spectrum and orbital positions

News | October 7, 2003

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