By Gustavo Capdevila
GENEVA, Oct 23 1996 (IPS)

Communications transnationals settled their differences with the developing countries today, meaning profitable new mobile satellite system will go into action worldwide within the near future.

The World Telecommunications Policy Forum, attended by 824 delegates from 128 countries and the private sector, demanded the new system – which will cover even the most far-flung corners of the earth – be established as soon as possible.

This meeting, called by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) provided great backing for the big companies planning these satellite linked Global Mobile Personal Communications Systems (GMPCS).

The agreement was also a success for the ITU which fought hard to make the agreement possible, and its secretary-general Pekka Tarjanne who was forced up against the basic telecommunications negotiations currently underway in the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The WTO talks will have to be resolved before the finer points of policy and regulation can be dealt with.

Tarjanne said the outlook for the WTO negotiations was not optimistic, as they were suspended in April when the United States claimed the deregulation offers given were not extensive enough.

Tarjanne said it “is difficult to believe there will be any great advance made before February 15” 1997, the new closing date established by the WTO for the basic telecommunications discussions.

Meanwhile, the GMPCS negotiations produced a series of founding declarations which will commit the signatories to starting work on the system by the middle of next year.

Networks of satellites both big and small, in low (LEO) and medium (MEO) orbits will allow the companies to offer worldwide communication with handsets or small fixed terminals.

Unlike the current fixed orbit communications satellites which circle the Earth at around 36,000 km, the new models will have flexible orbits closer to the ground.

The new system will revolutionise communication, but will come up against tough issues of national sovereignty, and licensing regulations for servicing and equipment, and also interaction with other operators.

The Forum, presided over by Indonesia’s Jonathan Parapak, agreed the new technology must support the current moves towards the globalisation of telecommunications in order to benefit users.

And to satisfy the national administrations, the Forum agreed that during the execution of the GMPCS, the operators of the new system will provide a service complementary to the current infrastructure which will take into account the investments made.

The conference, which closed in Geneva Wednesday, ratified the sovereign right of each state to regulate its telecommunications extending it to the GMPCS service.

The provision of telecommunications services within a country or from each country requires the authorisation of the State involved, stated a Forum declarataion.

The flipside of this is that the States will be forced to accept a series of principles which will facilitate the introduction of the new commercial satellite telecommunications system.

One of these principles demands the operating companies provide the service at a reasonable cost. The companies interested in doing this have already announced the cost will be less than 50 US cents per minute of communication.

The Forum called on the GMPCS operators to take up the commitment to offer their services as a means to encourage the developing countries to attain universal access in the field of communications.

The conference insisted the operators must offer a service which extends to the most remote rural areas and regions which are currently lacking even the conventional telecommunications infrastructure.

Philippino delegate, Josefina Lichaugo, said developing countries like hers were at risk of lagging behind in the telecommunications field, and that the regulatory regime would not be ready for the GMPCS – a situation which could be repeated in other nations in similar conditions.

Considering that half the world still has no access to telephone lines, we can ask ourselves what all the hurry is about, said Lichuago.

She said the developing nations were seeking the leadership of the ITU to assure them, as the Forum promised, that the execution of the new system would reduce “the ever deeper abyss” in communications between the rich and poor countries.

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