Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

EXPLORING THE UNKNOWN 63
Commission regulatory jurisdiction and subject to the conditions and safeguards hereinafter
set forth, some form of joint venture by the international common carriers is clearly
indicated as best serving the public interest for the following reasons:
(a) It appears to be generally accepted that because of considerations of practical
economics and technical limitations, it will not be feasible for some time to come
to accommodate more than one commercial satellite system.
(b) Communication via satellite will be a supplement to, rather than a substitute
for, existing communication systems operated by the international common carriers,
thereby becoming an integral part of the total communication system of each such carrier.
[477/3] (c) The responses filed by the international carriers express a willingness and
indicate a capability to marshal their respective resources for the purpose of developing
a satellite communication facility.
(d) By reason of their experience in and responsibility for furnishing international
communications service, the international carriers themselves are logically the
ones best qualified to determine the nature and extent of the facilities best suited to
their needs and those of their foreign correspondents, with whom they have long[-
]standing and effective commercial relationships and who necessarily will have a substantial
interest in the operations of any satellite system.
(e) Under the Communications Act, the international carriers are obligated to
furnish the public with adequate, efficient service at reasonable charges, and this
obligation can best be discharged by those carriers maintaining, as far as possible, the
greatest degree of direct control and responsibility over the facilities employed in this
service. 2
7. These considerations, in our opinion, demonstrate the desirability of exploring at
this time the means whereby the international common carriers may, collectively, but subject
to appropriate regulation and safeguards, take such steps as are necessary to plan and
effect the ultimate integration of satellite communication techniques into the fabric of
international common carrier service. At the same time these considerations would
appear to militate against the suggestions which have been made by certain of the respondents
that any joint venture with respect to the ownership of satellite communication systems
should include participation by the public or by companies in the aerospace and
communications equipment manufacturing industries.
8. We are not unmindful of the substantial interests that these industries have made
in the field of space science and the important contributions they have to make to this
field. Nor are we unmindful of the potential market that satellite systems represent for the
sale of communications and related equipment. However, it appears that the adaptation
and integration of satellite communication techniques to international common carrier
operations is within the economic means of the existing carriers, although [478/4] requiring
cooperative arrangements among them. We fail to see why ownership participation by
the aerospace and communications equipment industries will be beneficial or necessary
to the establishment of a satellite communication system to be used by the common carrier
industry. On the other hand, such participation may well result in encumbering the
system with complicated and costly corporate relationships, disrupting operational patterns
that have been established in the international common carrier industry, and impeding
effective regulation of the rates and services of the industry.
2. It is recognized that this new technology of communication may present numerous, unique and difficult
problems which may involve several approaches and solutions of a type and nature different from those
which have been used heretofore in the field of international communications. However, we are satisfied that
any such new problems can best be resolved by working within the existing framework of our international common
carrier industry.