Update published 17 December 2024
Services which rely on satellite connectivity are increasingly important for UK consumers and businesses and play a key role in providing broadband to hard-to-reach premises in the UK, as well as to ships and aircraft.
In March 2024, we issued a call for input on making up to 20 GHz of additional spectrum available for satellite gateway use in the Q/V (37.5 - 43.5 GHz, 47.2 - 50.2 GHz and 50.4 - 52.4 GHz) and E (71- 76 GHz and 81 - 86 GHz) bands. Satellite gateways are hubs, typically large antennas, that connect a satellite network to the internet and/or to private networks and cloud services. Enabling gateways to access more spectrum should enable better satellite connectivity services, with higher throughput increasing capacity to serve more customers, offer new services or deliver broadband with faster speeds.
We sought feedback on the demand for this spectrum and stakeholder views on technical coexistence with other spectrum users.
We received 10 responses, some of which indicated demand for using these bands for satellite backhaul in the near term, and provided information on the potential benefits of the use of these frequencies, while others highlighted issues to consider.
Ofcom will consult in 2025 on making Q/V and E bands available for satellite gateway use.
We are now preparing a consultation on proposals for making both Q/V and E bands available for satellite gateways, which we plan to publish in February 2025. This consultation will detail our proposals for making these bands available for satellite gateway use, including proposed technical conditions to support coexistence with other services.
We will aim to take a final decision on whether to proceed with these plans later in 2025, following consideration of consultation responses.
If stakeholders wish to provide any further information which they think might be relevant to our consultation proposals, please email this to qvegateways@ofcom.org.uk.
