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There are potential positive industrial implications for UK in the APSC plan. British Aerospace has been involved with APSC from the start of the concept and is in a firm position to manufacture the communications satellites required. The design of these satellites has been developed with the aid of European Space Agency funding, to which the UK Government has made substantial contributions. The realisation of commercial satellite sales has always been the end objective of such contributions and APSC represents a potential positive outcome for past Government policies. The manufacture of satellites is a highly labour intensive activity requiring the services of dedicated teams of highly trained engineers and technicians. Preservation of this workforce in UK is particularly important at this stage in the world's trade cycle. There is also the potential for additional business for UK telecommunications carriers operating in the Pacific area.
As a general policy the UK has been in favour of world free trade and the encouragement of new solutions providing additional choices for customers. Within EEC the UK has done much to encourage competitive alternatives to monopolistic provision of telecommunication services. The APSC system will provide an alternative to Intelsat facilities in the Pacific region and therefore should be encouraged by the United Kingdom for those reasons alone.
The UK is a signatory of the International Telecommunications Union Convention (ITU) which is the parent body of the IFRB referred to above. Article 33 of that Convention exhorts members to "bear in mind that radio frequencies and the geostationary satellite orbit are limited resources and that they must be used efficiently and economically". Satellite systems designed on a co-operative sharing basis between nations to provide their common services are more sparing of orbit and frequency resources than individual national systems. Such shared systems also make better business sense as the spare facilities can be held in common and the larger the spacecraft which can be justified by the traffic the greater its efficiency. APSC is dedicated to producing a genuine shared-services, cost effective, satellite system for the Pacific.
Implications for the UK
In associating with the application for Advanced Publication, the UK would signify its general support for APSC. However, the detailed technical examination of the proposal by IFRB members to determine if the proposal poses potential interference to their registered satellite systems will not involve UK in day to day issues. The USA Administration, acting for the Republic of the Marshall Islands as the notifying Administration and leader of the applicant group, will perform that role.
Up to now, Group Applications for IFRB Advanced Publication have been made in respect only of satellite systems owned and operated by inter-government consortia, such as Intelsat. However, APSC has taken international legal advice, the burden of which is that there is no reason why group applications should not be processed for satellite systems to be operated by commercial undertakings (see Appendix 3). From the UK's standpoint the distinction seems particularly unimportant because BT, part owner and operator of Intelsat, Inmarsat and Eutelsat, organisations which normally make group applications through a lead country, is a commercial UK company with only a minority Government ownership.
Other Applications to the IFRB made by the UK for satellite systems, either planned or operational, do not conflict with APSC's plans. The UK Administration is named in IFRB papers as the applicant for Inmarsat, Skynet, BSB and AsiaSat systems. Of these, the first three systems operate in frequency bands and at locations remote from that proposed by APSC.
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