Orbit Act Report a Model for Delegated Authority Matters, O'Rielly Says

That commissioners got a chance to vote on the FCC's latest Open-Market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications (Orbit) Act report to Congress raises the question of why similar agency reports don't follow the same procedure, Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said. The FCC issued its 17th annual status report on the privatization status of Inmarsat, Intelsat and New Skies Tuesday. It was unanimously approved by commissioners, with O'Rielly and Commissioner Ajit Pai issuing separate statements. The report said the FCC over the past year has taken part in numerous international satellite coordination negotiations with Russia as Intelsat's licensing administration, while the company signed operational arrangements with satellite operators licensed by seven nations, which will in turn lead to coordination agreements between the U.S. and the pertinent foreign administrations. The FCC said during the past year it also granted a number of Inmarsat earth station licenses and approved other earth stations' authority to communicate with satellites from New Skies, an Intelsat spin-off. Several past reports have said Inmarsat and Intelsat have fully transitioned to privatized operations. Pai has said the Orbit Act reports have outlived their usefulness (see 1506100062) and he repeated that Tuesday in a brief statement, saying "There's no need to reinvent the wheel." O'Rielly said he proposed a similar process for all delegated authority matters before the agency: "Alas, this reasonable process reform has been summarily rejected to date."