Federal Communications Commission  FCC 08-254
STATEMENT OF 
COMMISSIONER JONATHAN S. ADELSTEIN
Re:  Globalstar Licensee LLC Application for Modification of License for Operation of 
Ancillary Terrestrial Component Facilities, Order and Authorization
In this Order and Authorization, we determine that a limited waiver of certain of 
our gating criteria and technical rules will greatly serve the public’s interest by allowing 
for the deployment of a broadband service to millions of rural Americans who now have 
little or no access to broadband.  Indeed, once fully deployed, it is expected that the 
Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) coverage contemplated by this authorization will 
extend to 546 communities in seventeen states.  This limited waiver furthers the 
Commission’s goals of facilitating the provision of broadband service to rural areas of the 
country consistent with the $267 million loan commitment from Department of 
Agriculture’s Rural Development Utilities Program.
I write separately to reaffirm my commitment to the integrity of our rules that 
require Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) licensees to comply with gating requirements, 
which I have always strongly supported.  As I’ve previously stated, we should not allow 
an MSS system with an ancillary terrestrial component to evolve into a terrestrial system 
with an ancillary mobile satellite component.  In this unique instance, unanticipated and 
unforeseeable technical problems resulted in degraded performance of satellites on the S 
Band that impaired their ability to do continuous and reliable two-way communications.  
The determination we make here is a narrow one, one that is limited to a date certain, and 
one that is terminable if the compliance deadlines are not met.  Indeed by July 2010, 
Globalstar must fully meet coverage requirements and by July 2011, must provide two-
way MSS to customers equipped with dual-mode MSS-ATC terminals.  
For these reasons, I believe our decision today carefully weighs the public interest 
benefits of much needed broadband deployment to the rural parts of our nation with our 
important ATC gating requirements.  The provision of broadband to rural Americans is of 
the utmost importance and warrants a limited waiver in this case, but it is also important 
that the limited waiver remains exactly that—limited.