Ofcom has announced it has granted an earth station network licence to Amazon Kuiper Services Europe. The regulator has also announced it is releasing further radio spectrum to support fixed links and satellite connectivity services.
Nina Percival, director of spectrum management and authorisation, Ofcom, said, “In line with our mission to support innovation, investment and growth, today’s decisions provide further opportunity for new services delivering better connectivity for people and businesses in the UK - and particularly to those in harder to reach rural communities.”
The licence granted to Amazon relates to its non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite system, which is known as Kuiper. This decision means Kuiper will be authorised to provide satellite connectivity services such as high speed, low latency broadband to customers in the UK.
Kuiper is permitted to operate in Ka band frequencies between 27.5-27.9405 GHz, 28.4545-28.9485 GHz, and 29.5-30 GHz.
Ofcom will also be releasing further radio spectrum in the 27.5-30 GHz (28 GHz) and 32 GHz bands. The regulator said blocks of spectrum in these bands are particularly suitable for fixed links and satellite connectivity services.
Providing more spectrum for fixed links and satellite services will enable service providers to increase their capacity, serve more customers, supporting innovation and growth.
For the 28 GHz band, Ofcom has decided to make:
- an additional 2 x 112 MHz of spectrum (27.8285-27.9405 GHz paired with 28.8365-28.9485 GHz) available on a nationwide basis immediately for land-based satellite terminals and;
- an additional 2 x 112 MHz of spectrum (28.1925-28.3045 GHz paired with 29.2005-29.3125 GHz) available in London and Northen Ireland for satellite gateways with immediate effect, and for point-to-point fixed links later this year.
For the 32 GHz band, it has decided to make:
- 2 x 112 MHz of spectrum (32.459-32.571 GHz paired with 33.271-33.383 GHz) available for point-to-point fixed links on a nationwide basis, available later in 2025.
Ofcom will also decide how to make a further 2 x 112 MHz of spectrum (27.9405-28.0525 GHz paired with 29.9485-29.0605 GHz) available once it has further evidence on the uptake of spectrum made available through this initial set changes.
In addition, Ofcom has decided not to introduce a new process to directly authorise satellite gateways in 28 GHz frequencies licensed to Spectrum Access licensees at this time. This is because additional evidence it has received suggests it is reasonable to expect market mechanisms (the leasing of spectrum between parties) to lead to further sharing without Ofcom’s intervention.