to consider regulatory measures, and implementability thereof, to limit the unauthorized operations of non-geostationary-satellite orbit earth stations in the fixed-satellite and mobile-satellite services and associated issues related to the service area of non-geostationary-satellite orbit satellite systems in the fixed-satellite and mobile-satellite services, in accordance with Resolution 14 (WRC-23)

Regulatory & procedural considerations

The regulatory framework in force

• RR Article 18 governs licensing: under No. 18.1, no transmitting station may be established or operated without a licence issued in an appropriate form by or on behalf of the government of the country to which it is subject.
• Resolution 22 (Rev.WRC-23) resolves that transmitting earth stations may operate within an administration's territory only if authorized by that administration.
• Resolution 25 (Rev.WRC-23) requires administrations licensing global satellite systems for personal communications to ensure that they can be operated only from the territories of administrations that have authorized such service.

The gap the item addresses

Administrations have reported to the Radio Regulations Board unauthorized transmissions from non-GSO FSS and MSS earth stations within their territory, in the Earth-to-space direction. Licensing is territorial, but a global constellation's coverage is not — and Resolution 14 recognizes that a Member State may wish to exclude its territory from the service area of a non-GSO satellite system.

Constraints carried into the study

Resolution 14 grounds the work in each Member State's sovereign right to regulate its telecommunications and to license non-GSO use in its territory, notes that earth stations may be equipped with geolocation and emission-cessation functions, and requires that any exclusion measure must not adversely affect the provision of service in the rest of the system's service area.