Rr. July 1971

A4 - ";1 up_-- FA V4J July 1971 rr. rage L COMSAT NEWS-July 1971 COMSAT Cuts Atlantic Rates 25%, On the Cover Nyla, 14 months old, is held FCC Denies TAT-6 Cable Proposal up by her father, Hasin Hashmi, Finance, for an exciting pony ride at the annual CEA picnic at A major COMSAT rate reduction in its rates for the same Atlantic Smokev Glen Farm, Gaithers- of 25 percent went into effect July I points " if the carriers realize at least burg. Md., on June 13. More for leased voice-grade channels be- 90 percent of their present forecasts" photos on Page 4. tween the U. S. and many overseas for increased traffic . COMSAT also points in the Atlantic Region. said it would make a 20 percent cut at In explaining its reasoning , the FCC COMSAT told the Federal Com- that time on channels between the said, among other things: munications Commission that it would U. S. Mainland and Central America 11. .. we are of the opinion that we should not accept the AT&T proposal apply for a second-step reduction in in the Atlantic, and between the U. S. for the SF type 845-circuit its rates at the beginning of next year, (TAT-6) Mainland and Hawaii in the Pacific cable. affecting both Atlantic and Pacific area. "Instead , we feel that the criteria set areas, provided traffic growth sub- Conference Held forth above indicate that requirements stantially meets increases forecast by for service across the Atlantic during On June 17 the FCC held an infor- the carriers. the first half of this decade can best be mal conference to discuss a number of The rate cut followed a series of met by existing cable and satellite facili- events involving COMSAT, the car- issues involved in its cable- satellite in- ties supplemented by two additional riers and the FCC, and a major policy quiry, specifically, the need for a new INTELSAT IV satellites in orbit, one statement by the FCC concerning the 845-circuit transatlantic cable called to be a spare and one operational to future mix of cable and satellite facili- TAT-6. In this connection, COMSAT handle projected traffic growth , already planned for this time frame. ties for overseas communications. President Joseph V. Charyk outlined "A high capacity SG (3,500 circuit) COMSAT's 25 percent rate reduc- COMSAT's views on rate reductions in two memoranda transmitted to type cable available for service by or be- tions apply to channels between the fore 1976 would be needed so as to sup- FCC Chairman Dean Burch prior to U.S. Mainland and Central America plement then existing cable and satellite the conference. in the Atlantic, and between the U.S. facilities to accommodate projected Mainland and Hawaii in the Pacific Speakers in favor of TAT-6 in- growth in circuit requirements, and to area. aFK^ c-a Gwr,t r `1; ^^r cluded Richard R. Hough, President- provide the diversity and redundancy In a filing on June 25, COMSAT Long Lines Department: Ted Westfall, needed to assure continuity of service. said the first-step rate cut would result Executive Vice President of ITT, and Accordingly , we are hereby advising the in savings to carriers, who lease satel- Edward Gallagher, President of WUI. carriers of our readiness to grant now an application for a TAT- lite channels from COMSAT, of ap- Dr. Charyk questioned whether the 6 SG type 3,500 circuits cable . We expect the car- proximately $6 million for the remain- TAT-6 is needed at this time and riers to file an application for such a ing six months of this year and more urged that the carriers be required to cable promptly and to install and make than double that amount for the full put greater volumes of traffic on satel- it operational as quickly as possible... 12 months of next year. lites. "We believe that this Statement of Earlier Reduction "We submit," he said, "that if the Policy affords the latitude and flexibili- objectives of the Communications ty which our (U .S.) carriers require to The rate reduction was the second plan, in association with their foreign Satellite Act of 1962 are to he realized one made by COMSAT in the Atlan- correspondents , the transatlantic facili- or even seriously pursued, the Com- tic for leased channels. A smaller cut ties for the balance of this dc^:;lc " mission should put its authority be- was made in 1967 following the inau- hind a policy of expanding the traffic guration of full-time 24-hour satellite New First Aid Class service. (Rates for TV service via satel- volume on satellites and passing the lite in the Atlantic have been substan- resultant economies on to the rate Introduced at Labs tially reduced twice in the past by paying public. The most opportune time to do that is now, when major COMSAT.) A completely new method of teach- improvements in the satellite traffic Under the reduction, COMSAT ing Red Cross first aid has been intro- rates for the routes specified were re- would have a very dramatic effect in duced at the Labs. Known as the reducing unit costs." duced from $3,800 per month to "multimedia" technique, it combines $2,850 per month, or an annual per- A week later the FCC issued a three major elements in a fresh ap- channel saving of $11,400. In addition, Statement of Policy in which, among proach to teaching fist aid. NASA will realize a saving of about other things, it declined to approve Betty Mowen, the Labs nurse and $150,000 for the period July I through AT&T's application for construction course instructor, explained that the September 30 under an existing of the TAT-6 cable. 8-hour session emphasizes that demon- stration by film and learning by work NASA-COMSAT contract. At the same time, however, the FCC hook, combined with practice sessions. The corporation said a further re- said it would accept an application by duction of 12.5 percent would be made the carriers for a more advanced cable make the technique the most effective means of teaching first aid yet devised having an estimated capacity of 3,500 July 1971- Year 6, No. 5 by the Red Cross. COMSAT News is published for employ- circuits, which AT&T indicated could The initial response to this teaching ees of the Communications Satellite Cor- be ready for service by 1976. poration by the Information Office, method has been so great that labs em- COMSAT Building, 950 L'Enfant Plaza, The policy statement said the FCC ployees Bill Magers and Harold Lieber- S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024. expected COMSAT to file rate reduc- man have completed Red Cross in- Matthew Gordon tions to be effective no later than July structor course and are ready to help Assistant Vice President 1. In compliance with that policy, for Public Information teach the next class, scheduled for this COMSAT filed its rate cuts. fall. Metzger Gives Paper At Meeting in Israel The Ministry of Communications of' Israel sponsored a conference on ground stations for satellite communi- cation in Tel Aviv, May 24-25. 1971. Israel presented plans for, and re- viewed construction progress of, its new earth station which is scheduled to begin service with an INTELSAT IV in May 1972. A number of experts from other countries also appeared on the program to discuss various aspects of communications satellite sys- tems and equipment. Sidney Metzger, Assistant Vice President and Chief Engineer, deliv- ered a paper on "Technical Aspects of Spain 's new standard earth station on Grand Canary has contributed to increase in the INTELSAT Global Satellite Sys- global system TV volume. tem". Other COMSAT representatives were Dr. Burton Edelson, assistant di- rector of COMSAT Labs, who spoke Satellite TV Transmissions Increase on "SPADE System Progress and Ap- plications": Miles Merians of the Sharply as a Result of New Services Geneva office, who spoke on various international organizational aspects of In the first six months of 1971, the programs a day, seven days a week, to INTELSAT. Other speakers repre- number of INTELSAT satellite televi- the Spanish television station on the sented the U.K., Italy and Germany. sion transmissions has risen to between Canary Islands via Buitrago. 140 and 150 a month, compared to According to the Spanish adminis- about 100 a month last year. tration, 547 hours of television will be The sharp rise is due largely to two transmitted between Spain and the new regularly-scheduled services. Since Canary Islands each year in 1971 and the inauguration of the Aguimes stan- 1972. dard earth station in the Canary Is- Spain is also participating in the lands, Spanish Television transmits Iberoamerican News Exchange which three, and sometimes four, half-hour began earlier this year and is presently satellite television news and sports scheduled daily, Monday through Fri- day. Normally, about 10 minutes of news Emblem Competition material is transmitted via Buitrago to Open to All Employees I.urin (Peru), Choconta (Colombia), Tangua (Brazil), and Camatagua All COMSAT employees and mem- (Venezuela), for the broadcasters in bers of their immediate families are those countries. eligible to participate in a contest to Also, there frequently is a transmis- design a corporation emblem which sion scheduled from one of the partici- may be used on a COMSAT flag, arm pating South American countries to patches or decals. Spain and the other South American Final judging will be by majority participants. Sidney Metzger vote of the employees after a panel The Iberoamerican News Exchange screens the entries.

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