The United Nations-run quadrennial conference wrapped up Dec. 15 after four grueling weeks of treaty-level negotiations, establishing new global rules for how radio spectrum bands — the lifeblood of communications — should be divvied up among competing interests.
Against the growing dominance of non-geostationary-orbiting constellations like the 5,200 and counting Starlink broadband satellites SpaceX has deployed in low Earth orbit since 2019, the conference had a strong space focus this time around.
WRC-23 resolutions included rules for keeping large non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) networks in check, including limits on how closely satellites must stick to the orbital positions they have registered with regulators.
Satellites in geostationary orbit (GSO) must stay within 0.5 degrees of an assigned orbital slot under long-standing rules governed by the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations’ spectrum enforcer, but NGSO spacecraft did not have a similar limitation before WRC-23.
In addition, WRC-23 approved studies for the technical and regulatory provisions needed to protect radio astronomy from NGSO-caused interference. Measures to prevent NGSO services in countries that have not authorized them were also put on the agenda for WRC-27.
“One of the main risks that WRC-23 averted is that megaconstellation operators no longer will be able to expand their systems at the expense of everyone else,” said John Janka, global chief of government affairs and regulatory officer for GSO broadband provider Viasat.
While there were many pro-NGSO resolutions — such as a worldwide regulatory framework for providing NGSO Ka-band connectivity to planes, boats, and other terminals on the move — established GSO operators pointed to pushback against their competition at the conference.
“There was a broad anti-NGSO…
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