ITU Radio Regulations Board Approves Waiver for Rivada LEO Constellations
Munich, 5th July 2023 – Rivada Space Networks today announced that the ITU’s Radio Regulations Board has waived the requirement that Rivada put 10% of its constellation into orbit this year.
The ITU waiver process seeks clear evidence of funding, manufacturing and launch contracts as well as coordination with other systems. Having reviewed the submission made by Liechtenstein’s telecommunications regulator and filing administration (the “Amt für Kommunikation”), the ITU Radio Regulations Board determined that Rivada can proceed to its second deployment milestones of placing 144 satellites (plus 6 in-orbit spares) by June 2026 and a further 144 satellites (plus 6 in-orbit spares) by September of 2026.
Dr. Rainer Schnepfleitner, Director of the AK of Liechtenstein stated:
“The Office for Communications has put its trust in the ITU process and is delighted about the positive decision of the RRB. These filings were secured at a very early stage in the development of NGSO constellations for global connectivity and are an important asset – not only for Liechtenstein. A shortage of launch capacity and delays in technology development have been significant challenges to overcome in order to deploy these constellations in the stipulated timeframe. The perseverance of Rivada and ITU’s positive decision mean that the deployment of the constellations can move forward for the benefit of all the stakeholders.”
Declan Ganley, CEO, Rivada Space Networks, said:
“Rivada has the manufacturing and launch contracts in place to complete the constellations and launch 600 satellites by 2028, within the timeframe allowed by the ITU.” Ganley added: “We are working very closely with the regulator to make sure that all the conditions attached to these filings are satisfied and to ensure the success of these ground-breaking satellite constellations. We are building something unique, which we call the OuterNET: the first truly private global network, on which data travels through space alone and not over terrestrial networks to provide ultra secure communications anywhere on the globe.”
NOTE TO EDITORS:
You can find the full paper from ITU here: https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-r/md/23/rrb23.2/c/R23-RRB23.2-C-0023!!PDF-E.pdf
The relevant text is in section 9, copied below.
The board noted
detailed explanations had been provided of the difficulties
experienced resulting in missing the first milestone for the 3ECOM-1
and 3ECOM-3 satellite systems;a complete description of the satellite project had been provided,
indicating the development phases and activities undertaken;a programme schedule for the construction and launch of the full
constellation had also been provided;the programme schedule was challenging, but contingencies had been
foreseen to mitigate risks;financing had been secured from the parent company;
considerable progress had been made and continued to be made to
complete coordination efforts with other identified networks;no additional concerns had been expressed by other administrations
in relation to the two satellite systems;at the time of its 93rd meeting, noting that frequency assignments for
both satellite networks had been suspended under RR No. 11.49 from
16 February 2023, no satellites were in orbit and none were under
construction for the implementation of the project.
Consequently, the Board concluded that the administration and its
operator had satisfied the conditions by providing all the information
listed in Annex 2 to Resolution 35 (WRC-19) required to demonstrate that
it had a credible plan to meet the second milestone and decided to accede
to the request from the Administration of Liechtenstein by giving a
favourable determination under resolves 12 of Resolution 35 (WRC-19),
thus waiving the need to meet the requirements for the first milestone
under resolves 7a)/11a). Furthermore, the Board encouraged the
Administration of Liechtenstein to complete the coordination
requirements for the 3ECOM-1 and 3ECOM-3 satellite systems.
About Rivada Space Networks
Rivada Space Networks GmbH is a disruptive new company set to establish and operate the first true “OuterNET”: a global low latency point-to-point connectivity network of LEO satellites. By connecting its satellites with lasers, Rivada Space Networks will provide resellers and B2B customers with the ability to securely connect any two points on the globe with low latency and high bandwidth. The constellations, comprising 600 low-earth-orbit communications satellites, will represent a fundamental change in the availability of secure, global, end-to-end enterprise-grade connectivity for Telecom, Enterprise, Maritime, Energy and Government Services markets. Rivada Space Networks is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rivada Networks, Inc. www.rivadaspace.com
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Media Contacts:
Melanie Dickie, SVP Marketing & Communications
Rivada Space Networks GmbH
Tel: +31 6 14 22 97 62
Email: mdickie@rivadaspace.com
Brian Carney, SVP Corporate Communications
Rivada Networks, Inc
Tel: +1 (207) 256-0386
Email: bcarney@rivada.com