Opinion ID: 524251
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Challenged Ruling.

Text: 24 The FCC recognized that it had been invited to address a narrow question of law: Reuters seeks a determination that the Commission has the authority to license private, non-common carrier earth stations for operation with the INTELSAT system under Title III of the Communications Act of 1934, notwithstanding Section 201(c)(7) of the [Satellite Act].... Declaratory Ruling, 3 FCC Rcd at 1585 para. 2. In considering this question, the Commission initially observed that Section 201(c)(7) is not itself a source of licensing authority; rather, the FCC's authority to license satellite earth stations, just as other radio stations, is derived from Title III of the Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. Secs. 301-10. Id. at 1587 para. 13. Thus framed, the Commission stated the issue to be whether Section 201(c)(7) limits the Commission's discretion under Title III to grant private international earth station authorizations to 'any applicant.'  Id. (citation omitted). The Commission concluded that because the Satellite Act does not pose such a limitation, it was capable of licensing transmit/receive earth stations for use with INTELNET and IBS services to non-carriers. Id. 25 The Commission determined that Section 201(c)(7) applies only to satellite terminal station[s], a term which is defined by Section 103(2) of the Act as a complex of communication equipment located at the earth's surface, operationally connected with one or more terrestrial communication systems, and capable of transmitting telecommunications to or receiving telecommunications from a communications satellite system. 47 U.S.C. Sec. 702(2). The Commission concluded the Act addresses only large satellite terminal stations which would be built as part of the global satellite system and which would become an integral part of the terrestrial networks of the U.S. common carriers. 3 FCC Rcd at 1587 para. 15 (citation omitted). Thus, Section 201(c)(7) only deals with a limited type of earth station, id., and the Satellite Act does not, nor was it intended to, address private earth stations, which Congress did not foresee as technically feasible. Id. at 1588 para. 17. 26 In the process of declaring its statutory authority to license to non-carriers earth stations that were not covered by the Satellite Act, the FCC determined that [t]he private international earth station proposed by Reuters is not a 'satellite terminal station' under Section 103(2) or 201(c)(7). It will not be 'operationally connected' with a terrestrial communications system and will not be used to provide common carrier service to the public. Id. at 1587 para. 16 (citation omitted). That Reuters would lease private-line circuits from a common carrier would not alter the private nature of its satellite transmission. It is the use to which the line is put (here, the private business of Reuters) and not the status of the facility's provider (here, common carrier) that determines whether the facility is private or common carrier. Id. Additionally, Congress was addressing only those stations which would become an  'integral part of the domestic network of a common carrier,'  and Reuters's use of carrier-supplied private line did not satisfy this requirement. Id. para. 16 & n. 20 (quoting S.Rep. No. 1584, 87th Cong., 2d Sess., at 12, reprinted in 1962 U.S.Code Cong. and Admin.News, 2269, 2274). The Commission explicitly refused to make a public interest finding--a necessary predicate to Title III licensing. Id. at 1588 para. 21. See 47 U.S.C. Sec. 307.