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 STATEMENT  OF  COMMISSIONER  MICHAEL  J.  COPPS 
 Approving  in  Part,  Concurring  in  Part 
 RE:  Amendment  of  the  Commission’s  Space  Station  Licensing  Rules  and  Policies;  Mitigation  of  Orbital  Rules  and  Policies. 


 First  of  all,  my  thanks  to  the  Bureau  for  tackling  these  complex  issues  and  for  bringing  a  very  formidable  item  to  us  today.  I  am  pleased  that  we  are  moving  toward  a 
 more  timely  process  for  satellite  licensing  and  there  is  much  in  the  item  to  recommend  it  and  to  merit  the  Commission’s  approval. 


 I  write  separately  because  I  am  concerned  about  trafficking  and  arbitrage  in  FCC  licenses.  Congress  has  given  the  Commission  the  responsibility  to  administer  and  protect 
 the  public  spectrum.  This  includes  defending  our  rules  against  abuse  by  those  who  wish  to  profit  by  “flipping”  licenses  rather  than  offering  satellite  services  to  Americans. 


 Today  the  Commission  eliminates  the  Anti-  Trafficking  Rule.  Many  satellite  companies  believe  that  this  will  lead  to  increased  speculation.  At  the  same  time  the 
 Commission  creates  a  first-  come-  first-  serve  system  that,  for  all  its  merits,  many  in  the  satellite  industry  believe  will  lead  to  a  gold  rush  for  licenses. 


 The  combination  of  these  two  major  changes  makes  me  uneasy.  The  Order  does,  I  realize,  provide  actions  designed  to  reduce  the  opportunities  for  such  speculation.  It 
 creates  benchmarks  that  all  licensees  must  meet  to  keep  their  licenses.  It  creates  a  multi-million  dollar  bond  that  will  be  forfeited  if  a  company  fails  to  meet  its  benchmarks.  It 
 states  that  the  Commission  will  conduct  a  public  interest  review  of  all  satellite  license  transfers,  and  that  it  will  not  approve  a  transfer  if  the  licensee  is  engaged  only  in 
 speculation  and  intends  never  to  build  a  satellite  system.  And  all  licensees  must  incur  substantial  costs  in  licensing  and  ITU  fees  that  will  hopefully  make  speculating  in 
 satellite  licenses  less  likely. 
 I  hope  these  defenses  hold.  But  we  are  radically  changing  the  satellite  licensing  system,  and  we  simply  do  not  know  how  these  changes  will  change  the  nature  of  satellite 
 applications  or  how  they  might  induce  speculation.  The  decision  to  pull  away  the  safety  net  of  the  Anti-  Trafficking  Rule  therefore  leads  me  to  concur,  as  I  would  have  maintained 
 some,  even  if  not  all,  of  its  protections. 
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