The European Commission has confirmed all four operators that applied to deliver mobile satellite services across Europe will move forward to the next stages of the selection procedure.
The European Commission confirmed the four qualifying candidates to provide a pan-European multimedia mobile satellite service to be ICO Satellite, Inmarsat Ventures, Solaris Mobile and TerreStar Europe. They will firstly be assessed on their technical and commercial ability to launch their systems within the next two years. They will then be considered under a number of criteria, including the speed at which countries will be covered, including rural areas, the range of services, the number of users to be served, spectrum efficiency and the capacity of the system to fulfill public policy objectives. The European Commission aims to encourage a single European market for mobile satellite services through a single selection procedure. The proposal is to allow companies to offer services throughout Europe using spectrum in the 2GHz S-band, which sits alongside frequencies already used across Europe for 3G mobile services.
One of the applicants, ICO Global, has previously laid claim to use of part of the S-band frequencies under a prior award by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). ICO Global has initiated legal proceedings against the European Parliament decision to allocate the spectrum, arguing the decision should be annulled. In the event that ICO Global were to succeed in its legal argument, its own candidacy and that that of the other applicants in the beauty contest would, presumably, be invalidated.
Currently, the front runner is believed to be Solaris Mobile, a joint venture between European satellite operators Eutelsat and SES Astra. The JV has a payload ready for launch in early 2009. The company plans to provide television, video, radio and two-way communication to a variety of handheld and in-vehicle mobile devices with services mainly aimed at broadcasters, telecommunications companies, and the motor industry.
hgl
- Skip to primary navigation
- Skip to main content
- Skip to primary sidebar
- Skip to secondary sidebar
- Skip to footer
Satellite Industry Intelligence Since 1983
Footer
Satnews is a leading provider of satellite news, events, publications, research and other satellite industry information in both commercial and military enterprises worldwide.