The rise of large LEO constellations and the increasing use of space has led not only to a higher congestion of Earth orbits, but also of a growing demand for access to spectrum frequency bands for satellite applications, reflecting the advent of new spectrum hungry connectivity concepts, such as 5G mobile networks. This trend also has a profound impact on the management and regulation of the use of radio frequency spectrum, a scarce natural resource with finite capacity, whose risk of shortage notably grows.
Since its establishment, ESPI has increasingly worked on the topic of spectrum policy, dealing with the domain from multiple perspectives. As part of its evolution, ESPI has recently became a member of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in the form of academia membership.
ESPI plans to continue to contribute to the ongoing debate, tackling serval challenges such as the problem of orbit and spectrum reservation without actual use, the phenomenon of spectrum warehousing and overfilling, but also spectrum harmonization and standardization, and spectrum sharing.
Within this context, we also aim to bring together space and spectrum regulators from several countries and regional and international organisations, to feed into the discussion of those challenges in the road to WRC-23 and beyond.
For questions, proposals and potential collaborations, please contact Sara Dalledonne, ESPI Research Fellow and Lead on Regulatory Affairs (sara.dalledonne@espi.or.at)
Selected list of ESPI activities related to spectrum policy:
- The European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) and the Secure World Foundation (SWF) Regulator to Regulator Dialogue on Licensing Large Constellations (March 2023)
- ESPI Evening Side Event to the 60th session of UN COPUOS STSC with the support of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Observatory: “Dark and Quiet Skies” (February 2023)
- Executive Brief No. 61: “IRIS2: The new (material) girl on the block” (December 2022)
- Mouvement Europeen Suisse – Interview mit Sara Dalledonne zum Satellitenprogramm IRIS2
- Executive Brief NO. 60: “Rising opportunities in the Satellite Connectivity market: Eutelsat and OneWeb combination” (December 2022)
- IISL Knowledge Constellation (KC) contribution on Spectrum Management and the ITU-R by Sara Dalledonne
- Executive Brief No. 42: “C-Band, Satellites and 5G” (June 2020)
- Executive Brief No. 37: “Rethinking the Assessment of the Value of Spectrum” (January 2020)
