Filings Flood Global Bandwidth Regulator, Hinting at a Satellite Internet Gold Rush

摘要

The international agency that regulates satellite orbital slots and broadcast frequencies has registered at least a half-dozen filings for massive constellations of satellites in the past eight weeks, a development that suggests a gold-rush mentality may be taking hold. Behind these registrations, all made through governments, may hide well-known names including SpaceX, Google, Virgin Group, Qualcomm or other investors that in recent weeks have, in different ways, made public their interest in launching hundreds, even thousands, of satellites to provide global Internet service. For now, the filings at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) of Geneva, a United Nations agency, are not obliged to show their hands beyond the barest information about the orbits they intend to use and the number of satellites to be launched. ITU procedures are that national administrations register the satellite networks at the ITU, almost always on behalf of a corporate sponsor.