This statement presents Ofcom’s partial conclusions following a consultation on two elements of Ofcom's activity in relation to processing satellite filings. The first element relates to the published Procedures for the Management of Satellite Filings (the “Procedures”) concerning the:
- deliverables required from operators before submission by Ofcom of a Request for Coordination; and
- action to be taken by Ofcom in the event that an operator wishes to relinquish a filing
Our decisions in respect of the Procedures are as follows:
- Stages 2 and 3 of Table 1 of Section 5 to be combined and amended so as to require applicants to provide, in respect of construction and launch contracts, a copy of the relevant contract, or evidence that a contract exists, or a firm date on which the contract is expected to be signed.
- Sections 12.1, 12.2 and 12.3, and consequentially 12.8, 13.4, 13.5 and 13.9 of the procedures to be amended to indicate that in the event that a UK satellite operator notifies Ofcom that it wishes to relinquish an existing filing, the assignments of which are either recorded or still in the process of coordination, the filing will be cancelled by Ofcom, in accordance with the relevant ITU procedures.
These amendments will be incorporated into the Procedures (PDF, 585.4 KB).
On the second element, we have not yet reached a conclusion on matters concerning recovery of the costs Ofcom incurs in relation to undertaking frequency coordination and administrative work for UK satellite networks submitted or to be submitted to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in order to gain international recognition under the ITU regime. Ofcom will provide further information on this issue in due course.