Dwayne C. Brown
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                                              
November 1, 1991
(Phone:  202/453-8956)


RELEASE:  91-181

TDRSS C-BAND AGREEMENT EXTENDED


     NASA and Columbia Communications Corp., Honolulu, have 
reached an agreement to delay for up to 6 months the commencement 
of operations under Columbia's lease of NASA's Tracking and Data 
Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) C-Band capacity.  To compensate 
NASA for this extension, Columbia has agreed to pay anywhere from 
$2.5 million to $10 million in increased payments in the later 
years of the lease, depending on when operations actually 
commence.

     Charles Force, NASA Associate Administrator for the Office of 
Space Communications, said, "We look forward to the success of 
this American communications company using NASA's satellites to 
provide new competition in commercial international 
communications.  And we have ensured that the agreement will 
provide additional and significant payments to the U. S. 
government."

     Clifford Laughton, Columbia's President, said "Following a 
year where our focus has necessarily been on the difficult 
INTELSAT consultation process, this extension now gives us the 
time to focus on serving customers.  We look forward to commencing 
services using these fine satellites and to rewarding NASA's 
commitment to the growth of competition and the American 
communications industry."

     NASA has leased to Columbia the C-Band transponders on two 
geostationary TDRSS satellites to serve commercial international 
telecommunications customers in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean 
regions.

     In September, Columbia successfully completed the INTELSAT 
consultation, which cleared the way for Columbia to make full use 
of the TDRSS C-Band capacity.

     TDRSS is part of NASA's space-based network for tracking and 
communicating with the Space Shuttle and other spacecraft in 
low-Earth orbit.  TDRSS is managed by the Office of Space 
Communications, Washington, D.C.

                              -end-