Leading on LEO Satellite Policy: U.S. Priorities for the 2027 World Radiocommunication Conference
Next year’s World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-27) in Shanghai will set global rules for access to spectrum frequency bands that could determine whether America’s currently dominant low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite operators have the market access and capacity needed to scale, reduce costs, and innovate new services for consumers at home and worldwide. This paper describes the WRC process and recommends that the United States prepare early, establish strong positions, and build winning coalitions. It then focuses on five issues that should rank among the highest U.S. priorities at WRC-27 and recommends positions for each that will best advance American economic interests and values.
Key Findings
- In preparation for WRC-27, it is crucial that the United States prioritize satellite issues, settle early on strong positions, and begin building consensus, first at the regional level and then at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) globally.
- Outdated and needlessly strict limits on LEO satellite transmissions remain an obstacle to high-capacity satellite service. At WRC-27, a path remains to modernize these limits to enable more efficient sharing among LEO and legacy systems and thereby boost the power, capacity, and performance of satellite services.
- Agenda Items 1.3, 1.10, and 1.18 propose satellite spectrum abundance, opening 11,000 megahertz of millimeter-wave frequencies to support non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) gateway Earth stations. This spectrum for internet backhaul is needed to meet enormous projected increases in LEO satellite data traffic.
- Agenda Item 1.5, advanced by Iran and Russia, proposes to prohibit satellite transmissions over countries where operators lack authorization. This represents a counterproductive and potentially dangerous step toward authoritarian control of global satellite communications and should be firmly opposed by the U.S. delegation.
- Agenda Items 1.13 and 1.14 both propose additional spectrum to facilitate satellite direct-to-device (D2D) services, but under very different licensing frameworks. We recommend support for both proposals, with qualifications, and emphasize that allocating more mobile-satellite service spectrum is vital to fuel innovation and capacity for D2D services globally
Acknowledgments
The authors extend their thanks to the members of the LEO Policy Working Group, which our two organizations jointly convened last year, culminating in the in-depth report we rely on here to explain and recommend U.S. positions and priorities concerning the most important global satellite issues likely to be decided at the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-27) next year in Shanghai. In particular, we’d like to thank Patricia Cooper, Ruth Pritchard-Kelly, Jeffrey Carlisle, Armand Musey, Joe Kane, Mark Jamison, and Karina Perez for their very helpful comments, edits, and suggestions. We are solely responsible for any errors herein, but those are no doubt minimal thanks to their expert advice.