Posted: Wed, Feb 7, 2001, 9:28 AM ET (1428 GMT)
Strict export controls on American satellites cost the industry over $1 billion dollars and 1,000 jobs in 2000, a study released Tuesday claimed. The report by the Satellite Industry Association and the Futron Corporation concluded that many customers of commercial communication satellites, concerned about delays and other problems caused by the new export controls, sought satellites manufactured by European rather than American companies. That shift cost California-based satellite companies — which includes major companies like Loral, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing Satellite Systems (formerly Hughes) — $1.2 billion and 1,000 jobs in 2000. The report also said American share of the global market dropped from a ten-year average of 75% to 45% in 2000. Export control has been an issue since control over licensing was transferred from the Commerce Department to the State Department nearly two years ago after concerns that lax controls may have allowed sensitive technologies in spacecraft to be transferred to China. Reform of export control policies is expected to be a major space policy issue in Congress this year.

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