Ciel blocking access to Canadian orbital resources, charges Telesat

Telesat Canada and Ciel Satellite Group appear headed for another showdown for control of Canadian direct-to-home (DTH) satellite bandwidth, but Telesat contends that Ciel's interest is nothing more than an attempt to block access. In an interview with Report on Wireless, Telesat's VP of North American sales Paul Bush says Ciel's interest in the bandwidth is part of an "arcane" and "sophisticated" game by part owner SES Americom Inc. to gain control of satellite resources in multiple jurisdictions. SES is a Luxemburg-based satellite giant partially owned by the Luxemburg government. "In many ways they've just tried to block us from continuing to develop the neighbourhoods that we've developed over the past four decades," Bush tells RoW. If Ciel were successful in landing the 113 orbital location, it would render the 111.1 slot "extremely difficult to use," he adds. The two companies squared off in 2006 for control of a number of orbital locations with each securing the rights to multiple slots. This time, Industry Canada is licensing broadcasting-satellite services spectrum at the 111.1 and 113 degrees west orbital positions with the two licences available as either a single package or as individual licences. Telesat wants the rights to both slots, while Ciel has expressed an interest in the 113 location. Ciel has yet to file a formal application, but the company is expected to do so by the March 31, 2009 deadline. Scott Gibson, VP and general counsel at Ciel, tells RoW that it's too early to talk about the pending application, why the company is interested in only one licence and the importance of the 113 orbital location to Ciel's business plan and satellite roadmap. "It's premature to really have the discussion," he says. "We're in the process of developing our application and it wouldn't be appropriate for me to say whether it was important or if it would happen. We're investigating the opportunity and I certainly would hope it will develop into something that will be key to our future. But at the moment it's really premature to say." Industry Canada decided to allow participants to apply for both licences as a single package because the two locations are linked due to DTH services, regulatory and technical reasons. "In view of this, and given the restraints that could arise because of the close spacing between the two positions, the status of Canada's filings to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for the two positions, and the impact that these restraints could have on the case for using both positions to serve Canada, the use of either of these two licences for the delivery of service in Canada is interdependent and inextricably linked to the other of the two licences," reads the consultation. Bush says Ciel doesn't need to apply for the 111.1 orbital slot because SES had previously secured the rights to it through the Luxemburg government. "The reason they need only one of the slots is because they've already got all of the other slots covered through their filings through Luxemburg," says Bush, noting that this is a strategy SES has effectively used in Europe and North America. "SES has been very effective in terms of bringing into use slots in other jurisdictions and blocking the use, in this case, for us and our market, to use our own slots," the long-time Telesat exec notes. "There's a very definite strategy within SES to file around the world to use orbital positions to be able to block the use by existing incumbents, including ourselves. "So in some ways, we're playing a bit of a multidimensional chess game with SES Ciel," adds Bush. "That we need two and they need one is a function of the fact that they already have certain slots locked up through Luxemburg. So our ability to be able to use the slots in many ways is going to come down to how creative we are against SES, not against Ciel." Bush says Telesat needs both slots just to be able to use one because the 111.1 slot is "extremely difficult to use" on its own. "We have to bring into use both of them to be able to try and nullify the stronger position they would have at one of the spots," he says.

Ciel blocking access to Canadian orbital resources, charges Telesat

News | 02/04/2009 10:15 pm EST

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