Out of Space
One industry that has "taken off" in modern times is the
space industry and in particular, satellites. This comes as no
surprise as they are vital tools in the provision and facilitation
of communication services. As the demand for faster and wider
coverage of mobile and internet services grows, so too does the
demand for the infrastructure that supports such services, such as
satellites.
Satellites can be classified into different groups depending on
their altitude of operation. For instance, Low-Earth Orbit
("LEO") satellites orbit the Earth at an
altitude of between 160 to 2,000 kilometres whereas Geosynchronous
Equatorial Orbit ("GEO") satellites
orbit at an altitude of approximately 35,000 kilometres.
Historically, GEO satellites have played a bigger role in providing
communications services and were more widely used since their
introduction in the 1960s. However, as technology advances, LEO
satellites are becoming increasingly prevalent, as they are able to
transmit data to Earth much faster given their lower
altitude.
With the substantial rise in the number of satellites being
launched into space and with many more expected to be launched in
the coming years, it would appear that outer space is fast becoming
congested and may quite literally be running out of space.
Regulation of such space is thus required to ensure the efficient
use of this space, and more importantly, that there is no harmful
interference between satellites. Regulation generally covers two
main resources: orbital slots and spectrum.
Orbital slots are the specific space occupied by a GEO satellite,
which determines the area of earth the satellite's signals can
reach. Orbital slots are also sometimes referred to as the
"parking spots" of space and are assigned or allocated by
the International Telecommunication Union
("ITU") generally on a first-come,
first-serve basis. Certain orbital slots are in high demand due to
their advantageous locations and given the limited amount of space
around the Earth's orbit, orbital slots are a limited resource.
To illustrate, it was reported in 2017 that there are only 1,800
available orbital slots in GEO.
Activity in the lower orbit is also ramping up. Space today is
also highly commercial with big industry players such as Amazon and
SpaceX planning to invest between US$10 – US$30 billion as
part of their plan to provide high-speed internet to the masses,
especially those in remote areas, via constellations of LEO
satellites. Amazon's Project Kuiper is expected to launch a
mega constellation of 3,236 satellites into LEO, whilst
SpaceX's Starlink project currently has more than 1,600
satellites launched with hopes to launch as many as 42,000
satellites into LEO.
Whilst satellites may be crucial to communication services, they
would be pointless without spectrum, which contain the radio
frequencies that wireless signals travel over. These frequencies
are used by all satellites and enable us to perform a variety of
things, like make calls, connect to the internet and use navigation
apps like Google Maps by allowing devices to communicate with each
other. Both frequencies and orbital slots are in high demand as
mobile and broadband technologies develop, therefore increasing the
demand for frequencies to deliver new communications
services.
Regulation of Orbital Slots and Frequencies
It is important to understand that frequencies are not something
which can be physically constrained by borders as they are not a
tangible resource like land which can be easily marked up and
divided amongst users. Additionally, the concurrent use of the same
frequency by multiple users can result in harmful interference
between users. As such, it is paramount that the use of frequencies
is managed and coordinated carefully amongst different users and
different countries. Whilst harmful interference cannot be
completely eliminated, the proper management of frequencies can
certainly reduce it.
Similarly, orbital slots are a limited resource which must be
managed properly in order to ensure that GEO satellites are given
enough room to operate effectively and without interference. The
satellites must be kept a certain distance apart from each other at
all times to ensure that there is no interference caused between
them and, more importantly, that they do not collide with each
other.
As such, at a national level the use of frequencies is heavily
monitored and regulated by our local telecommunications laws, i.e.
the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998. At an international
level, the management and coordination of orbital slots and
frequencies are carried out by the ITU. Generally, management of
orbital slots involves ensuring that no two satellites are too
close to each other such that there could be interference (or
worse, a collision), whilst the management of frequencies involves
ensuring that no frequency is overburdened by an inordinate amount
of users. A key component of international frequency management is
the ITU Radio Regulations ("Radio
Regulations"), which prescribe how telecommunications
equipment and systems must operate, and set out procedures for the
registration, co-ordination and operation of satellites.
Due to the importance of orbital slots and frequencies to
countries, the ITU provides governments with some control over
orbital slots. It does so by designating the government of each
country as "administrations", which are responsible for
formally dealing with the ITU in all formal regulatory
procedures.
IT Who?
The ITU is the United Nations' specialised agency for
information and communications technologies where representatives
from governments and the private sector coordinate global
telecommunications networks and services. ITU membership consists
of 193 Member States and over 900 companies, universities, research
institutes, and international and regional organisations.
The ITU manages the use of frequencies worldwide to ensure that
there is no harmful radio interference between users by keeping and
maintaining a register of registered frequency assignments in the
ITU Master International Frequency Register
("MIFR").
The Radio Regulations also contain, in Section IV of Article 5, a
Table of Frequency Allocations which sets out the various frequency
bands and the corresponding radiocommunications services they are
allocated to, thereby ensuring minimal interference between
services.
Satellite Filings
Before a satellite can use the spectrum and/or orbital resources
it requires to fulfil its purpose, the satellite operator
("operator") must submit a satellite
filing to obtain international recognition of these
resources.
Satellite filings must be submitted to the ITU by the
"notifying administration" of the country where the
operator is applying from. The notifying administration for
Malaysia is the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission
which is responsible for the registration of Malaysia's
allotments, assignments and satellite network filings at the
ITU.
The basic process for the submission of a new satellite filing is
as follows:
- The operator prepares the filing.
- The operator submits the filing to the notifying administration for approval.
- If the notifying administration rejects the filing, they can send it back to the operator for amendments or amend it themselves.
- The notifying administration then submits the filing to the ITU for approval.
Request for Coordination
An important step in satellite filings is known as the
"coordination" stage. In this stage, the operator must
study the impact of their intended usage of frequency on existing
networks and identify any possible interference to the networks of
other operators, whether within the same country or otherwise. The
operator must then, with the help of the notifying administration,
seek coordination with the operators potentially affected and the
administration of any other country affected.
Coordination here refers to the process of seeking an agreement
with other operators/ administrations on any potential frequency
interference. The coordination agreement confers certain rights and
imposes certain obligations on the administrations that are parties
to that agreement. Coordination is required in all cases except for
cases not listed in Article 9 of the Radio Regulations as requiring
coordination. Examples of the cases listed in Article 9
include:
- stations in satellite networks in GEO, in any space radiocommunication service, in a frequency band and in a region where this service is not subject to a plan;
- space stations in the broadcasting-satellite service in any band shared on an equal primary basis with terrestrial services and where the broadcasting-satellite service is not subject to a plan in respect of terrestrial services; and
- all stations for which the requirement to coordinate is included in a footnote to the Table of Frequency Allocations by the ITU, for example mobile-satellite services using the frequency bands 137 – 138 MHz, 148 – 149.9 MHz and 149.9 – 150.05 MHz.
In Malaysia, coordination agreements must be ratified by the
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, which will
thereafter liaise with the administration of the country with whom
coordination is sought.
Advance Publication Information
For satellite networks not subject to the coordination procedure
above, the notifying administration must submit to the ITU a
general description of the satellite network for advance
publication. This provides other administrations with important
information on developments in orbital and spectrum
resources.
Space (Regulation) Exploration
The introduction of the Space Board Bill 2020 marks Malaysia's
venture into space (and space-related activities) regulation. The
Bill requires, among others, licenses to build or manufacture a
space object (i.e. spacecraft and launch vehicle, together with
their component parts), a launch permit to launch a space object
into space, and to register a space object which has been launched
into the earth's orbit or beyond with the Space Regulator. More
details on the Space Board Bill can be found in our
previous alert.
Conclusion
It is ironic how something as vast as outer space can be congested
or limited.1 Nonetheless, spectrum and orbital
slots will continue to be vital resources for nations worldwide and
it will be interesting to see how these increasingly limited
resources will be managed effectively on an international level. At
a national level, there are sure to be developments to keep an eye
out for as we have already taken our first step towards the
regulation of space with the introduction of the Space Board Bill
2020.
Footnote
1 For an illustration of how congested LEO has become,
see: https://platform.leolabs.space/visualization.
For an illustration of how congested Earth's orbit in general
is, see: https://maps.esri.com/rc/sat2/index.html
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
