Satellite Industry Urges Africa to Protect C-band

Michel de Rosen, chairman and chief executive officer, Eutelsat. Photo: Eutelsat

[Via Satellite 01-28-2015] Leaders from African nations have gathered for a meeting arranged by the African Telecommunication Union to ready for the upcoming World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15) this November in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting, held in Abuja, Nigeria, is where African states will define their stance on whether or not to give mobile operators access to C-band spectrum.

Eutelsat CEO Michel de Rosen, on behalf of the satellite industry, stressed the consequences of providing mobile operators access to the band, which would impact services such as air traffic control, government and enterprise communications, disaster relief, broadcasting and Internet access.

“Opening the C-band to mobile operators would not herald the expansion of its use for new services. It would mean the end of services, with no guarantee that new mobile services would actually be deployed using this band. It’s a lose-lose scenario and exactly the opposite of the intended goals,” he said.

De Rosen also highlighted the spectrum resources available to terrestrial operators, calling for the use of this spectrum before more is acquired. In a study, the research group LS Telcom found last year that a significant amount of spectrum available to terrestrial operators remains unused, despite the push for more.