The CEO of a global satellite company told a CASBAA forum in Singapore on June 1 that “the clock is ticking” for the countdown to the ITU’s WRC conference in December, which will deal with a concerted effort by some countries in temperate regions to divert crucial C-band satellite spectrum to mobile systems.
Michel De Rosen, Eutelsat CEO, warned of the “spectrum landgrab” underway, and underlined that international policies that suit highly urbanized developed countries with no heavy rainfall would not suit countries in the Asian tropics. “Geodiversity must absolutely be taken into account in the decisionmaking process of the WRC,” said De Rosen. “Trying to apply to the rest of the world the route favored by some countries to grant the lower part of the C-band to IMT disregards the specific needs of many countries.” And he praised several Southeast Asian countries for “relentlessly and effectively resisting…bullying tactics” in recent WRC preparatory conferences.
De Rosen also underlined the huge social benefits generated by satellite C-band in developing countries, even when not fully accounted in economic guesstimates. “What is the value of lives saved as a result of communications re-established by satellite within hours of an earthquake?” asked De Rosen. “The tragic earthquake in Nepal is a recent and vivid reminder of this”.
The full text of De Rosen’s remarks can be downloaded here.