*Pages 1--1 from Microsoft Word - 29193* FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION FCC 03- 154 STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN MICHAEL K. POWELL Re: Amendment of the Commission’s Space Station Licensing Rules and Policies; IB Docket No. 02- 34; 2000 Biennial Regulatory Review— Streamlining and Other Revisions of Part 25 of the Commission’s Rules Governing the Licensing of, and Spectrum Usage by, Satellite Network Earth Stations and Space Stations; IB Docket No. 00- 248 (adopted June 26, 2003) A pillar of my strategic vision for the Agency is a modernized Commission that is more responsive, more efficient, and more effective in light of the technological and economic opportunities of the new millennium. That commitment is embodied in today’s streamlining of our space and earth station license application processes. Schedule S, as revised today, will expedite our review of satellite applications and will allow us to develop a database that will enhance public access to information on satellite policy and licensing. Likewise, we expect that our adoption of Form 312EZ, along with revisions to existing forms, will expedite our review of routine earth station applications. We look forward to drawing important lessons from the electronic filing requirements for earth stations that we adopt today. We hope to apply these requirements more broadly in a transition to complete electronic filing for satellites. More efficient processes mean more rapid licensing and, ultimately, fewer regulatory restraints in the digital migration towards next generation satellite platforms. This reform would not have been possible but for the leadership and dedication of the International Bureau staff that has worked for so long to bring the International Bureau Filing System (IBFS) to us today. 1