EchoStar Satellite Operating Corp. relinquished authorization to operate a DBS satellite at 157 degrees west longitude on channels 1, 7, and 11. See FCC Report SAT-00357. EchoStar relinquished the authorization after an April 18 Order and Authorization granted it special temporary authority to move EchoStar 4 to the 77 degree WL orbital location. EchoStar seeks to transfer control of the satellite to QuetzSat, which holds a concession from Mexico to operate a satellite at that location. The Order and Authorization also included a blanket authorization for one million receive-only earth stations, which would allow EchoStar and QuetzSat to provide DBS service in the United States from EchoStar 4. The FCC said, "By this action, we support cooperation between U.S. and Mexican satellite operators in meeting capacity needs."
In other actions, the FCC granted the Star One S.A. request to modify the Star One C2 entry in the Permitted Space Station List to delete service to, from or within the United States using C-band frequencies. U.S. earth stations with "ALSAT" as the designed point of communications may, however, use Star One C2 at 70 degrees WL for Ku-band communications. SES Americom was granted STA allowing it to conduct Telemetry, Tracking and Control operations related to the relocation of C-band satellite Satcom C-4 from 85 degrees WL to 103.1 degrees WL. Additional information on these actions and a Mobile Satellite Ventures milestone completion is available online.
