 services for specialist users. Conversely, Iridium have to manage their user base across a transitional period where the existing constellations are past their nominal end-of-life expectancy. Globalstar, a competitor constellation had a number of RF hardware failures that reduced availability of their S band voice services and both Globalstar and Iridium have to finance and launch new satellites over the next five years. At the time of writing Iridium appear to be successfully achieving this. This suggests a need to work with rather than against cellular operators. Each party has something the other party needs, always a good basis for a collaborative venture. There may be additional opportunities to work with other satellite operators with medium-earth or geo- stationary satellite systems, two-way radio service providers and the broadcasting community. Most broadcasters for example have a public-service remit that extends to providing emergency broadcasting services in response to local, national or international emergencies. Satellites have always been a politically sensitive sector and SO has satellite spectrum, par- ticularly the allocations in L band and S band which are shown in Table 16.9. Some of that spectrum has been acquired or allocated on advantageous terms and can potentially be repur- posed beyond an original remit to provide specialist broadcasting and/or emergency-service provision. For example, spectrum originally intended for broadcast TV could be extended to embrace a much broader multiplex of essential and nonessential service propositions. There is substantial scope here for special pleading on the basis of social need, for example the provisioning of broadcasting and/or emergency service communications in emerging coun- tries. Special pleading can, however, sometimes be a smoke screen for more prosaic economic ambition. Cellular operators are right to be wary of new competitors who could be potentially suc- cessful at leveraging political influence into preferred access to new or existing 