STATEMENT OF
CHAIRMAN JULIUS GENACHOWSKI
Re: Comprehensive Review of Licensing and Operating Rules for Satellite Services,
IB Docket No. 12-267
The FCC and the satellite industry go back to the beginning – a long and successful innovation 
partnership.
 
Fifty years ago, in 1962, under Chairman Newt Minow, the FCC was instrumental in getting the 
first communications satellite licensed by the Commission and launched into space. Since then, the 
satellite industry has become a critical piece of our communications ecosystem, employing almost 
240,000 Americans and earning more than $175 billion in global revenues in 2011.  
Satellites provide essential connectivity to the U.S. media, banking, retail, transportation and 
other sectors.  They provide international links for businesses and well as families.  They’re an integral 
part of the global Internet and cloud computing.  And their ability to deliver communications services 
regardless of terrain or infrastructure is vital to first responders during emergencies and to connecting 
people in the most remote parts of America and the world.  We estimate that satellites send and receive 
over 10 petabytes of data every day for commercial uses alone; including government use, the total is 
much greater.
And new satellite technologies are being developed everyday.  I recently visited a start-up in San 
Francisco working on incredible satellite innovations related to Earth observation.  
Yesterday, I met with Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of Space X, the company that’s
revolutionizing commercial space travel.  FCC authorizations and licenses are critical to Space X, and in 
rapidly approving various applications the FCC has played a positive role in Space X’s early success.  
This is central to the mission of the FCC: facilitating innovation and the creation of new services 
and, indeed new industries.  And we’ll continue to seize opportunities to modernize our rules and 
processes to facilitate U.S. leadership in innovation.
Today, the FCC is proposing important steps consistent with this goal.  We’re proposing to 
modernize, streamline, or eliminate hundreds of rules or subsections governing satellite services.  Among 
the changes, this Notice includes a shift in the focus of the rules from a “tell us how you built it” approach 
to a “tell us how you will avoid interference” approach.  It also includes an expansion in the number and 
type of licensees that can take advantage of routine processing.  
These are common sense changes to improve our rules, making them better for innovators, 
entrepreneurs and new entrants, as well as existing companies. This is a core objective of our regulatory 
reform.
One of my first actions as Chairman was to appoint a Special Counsel for FCC Reform and 
charge her and our FCC Reform Team with conducting an agency-wide review of rules and regulations 
ripe for updating or elimination.  Today, each Bureau incorporates these reviews into all of their planning, 
as part of the Commission’s efforts to promote innovation and entrepreneurial thinking.  In addition to 
eliminating 263 outmoded or unnecessary regulations since January 2010, we have repeatedly updated 
and streamlined rules to reflect new technology and promote more efficient decision-making within the 
FCC.  Based on the incredible work of FCC staff, no prior Commission has a better record.
We’re all committed to smart and sensible regulatory reform, to removing unnecessary burdens 
and eliminating barriers to private investment innovation and competition.  This Notice is a terrific 
implementation of these important goals. I thank the staff of the International Bureau and our FCC 
Reform team for their hard work on this Notice.