The U.S. Congress took a step towards dismantling the decades-old monopoly on the Intelsat satellite system Wednesday, passing HR 1782, which now faces a Senate showdown. The bill swept through the House, passing 403 to 16, and faces strong support in the Senate as well, although a vote this year in the upper body might be delayed.
The legislation, crafted by Reps. Thomas J. Bliley, Jr., R-Va., and Edward
J. Markey, D-MA, an unlikely paring of conservative and liberal, would give
Intelsat and Inmarsat until 2001 to end the elements of their treaties with
other nations and become public commodities. If Intelsat fails to make the
conversion, Comsat and Intelsat would be prohibited from competing for
public services, such as mobile telephony and Internet access. Comsat's
U.S. customers would also get direct access to Intelsat, ending the current
requirement that U.S. firms such as AT&T and Bell Atlantic go through
Comsat first. Opponents of the measure say that it will destroy the
Intelsat consortium and hinder the development of satellite services around
the world.
Comsat has faced increased competition from PanAmsat Corp. and Loral in
recent years, both of whom propose to develop communications satellite
constellations. Comsat is the owner of nearly 20% of Intelsat, a global
space treaty organization headquartered in Washington. The consortium owns
a space satellite constellation that provides voice, data, and
communications services to nations without other communications options. To
date, 26 spacecraft form the Intelsat system.
