Ofcom’s Space Spectrum Strategy Aims to Foster UK Satellite Broadband

The national telecoms regulator has today set out their new ‘Space Spectrum Strategy’ and top of the to-do list is a commitment towards “enabling growth” in Satellite Broadband, such as by providing greater access to spectrum (e.g. facilitating access to spectrum used by the public sector).

The strategy is of course a lot wider than broadband and will also examine areas related to broadcast TV, global positioning, communications to ships and aircraft, satellite imagery and information about our climate (earth science etc.). It’s also worth remembering that new Satellites are very expensive and take a long time to build, thus any regulatory changes in spectrum use or allocation may not deliver an immediate benefit.

Enabling growth in satellite broadband (Strategy Extract)

1.6 We will, where appropriate, help to enable growth in satellite broadband communications. This will support our goal of making communications work for everyone, by enabling:

• Better fixed broadband options for residential consumers and businesses in the hardest to reach locations in the UK, which terrestrial broadband technologies may not serve well at the moment; and

• Better broadband connectivity (e.g. Wi-Fi) for passengers on aircraft and on ships.

1.7 We will achieve this by:

• Liberalising spectrum use to enable greater exploitation of new technologies (such as non-geostationary satellite constellations) where possible;

• Where necessary, considering action to ensure efficient use of bands already available for satellite communications in the UK; and

• Considering making additional spectrum available in the future if and when this becomes appropriate.

1.8 Our future work will also be informed by monitoring of satellite broadband take-up and on-going work on the development of a universal service obligation (USO) for broadband.

Furthermore Ofcom said that they have already started to collect data from satellite ISPs on UK subscriber numbers and revenues, which will be published in their 2017 Communications Market Report (CMR) later this year. On top of that they intend to consider how best to monitor the growth of inflight Wi-Fi services, which will also help them to understand Satellite’s place in the market for digital connectivity.

All of this is important because consumer demand is constantly rising and expectations vary. For example, the UK Space Agency advised the regulator that they may have “underestimated future data rate requirements [for Satellite]” in an earlier report, which they said should be more than 10Mbps. Ofcom had modelled a 20Mbps scenario for 2025, but acknowledged that data rates higher than 10Mbps could be in demand before then. On the other hand there was a diversity of views on this, hence the need for more data.

Respondents from the satellite industry have understandably indicated that satellite broadband could be part of a solution for delivering the Government’s 10Mbps Universal Service Obligation (USO). However Ofcom noted that some respondents had also expressed understandable concerns about high latency and reliability issues, which may affect the ability of current satellite technologies to deliver a suitable service. “Ultimately it will be the Government’s decision as to which of our proposed options best meets its objectives,” said the regulator.

Interestingly Ofcom states that a “number of stakeholders responded that we should not limit the focus of this priority to satellite’s role in serving the hardest to reach parts of the UK. They said that satellite can compete against fixed line services across the UK, and may have a role in increasing competition.”

We doubt that Satellite could seriously compete with fixed lines outside of rural areas, particularly given the problems of latency, setup cost, limited usage allowances and the fact that the UK is now slowly moving into the territory of 300-1000Mbps+ class broadband services; at least for the first 60-70% of premises. Ofcom appears to agree and reiterated that the best focus for Satellite was still on catering for remote rural areas, particularly the final 1% of UK premises.

The full report contains a lot more information and the regulator suggests that Satellite broadband is likely to be one area that they will tackle sooner rather than later, although no time-scale has been given.

Ofcom’s Space spectrum strategy
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/../96735/Statement-Space-Spectrum.pdf