Summary

  • Kenya’s draft separates telecom licences from frequency authorization, then ties each spectrum permission to the licence used by that service or station.
  • Gateway, VSAT, fixed-terminal and moving-terminal paths carry different licence combinations, annual frequency fees and reporting duties; comments close 6 November 2026.

A satellite can cross the sky in minutes. The paperwork it leaves on the ground has a longer route.

The Communications Authority of Kenya is asking stakeholders to review its 13-page Satellite Frequency Licensing Framework, 2026. The draft maps how existing telecommunications licences for satellite services would connect to separate permission to use radio frequencies.

That distinction is the whole story. A service licence answers what the local business or network is allowed to do. Frequency authorization answers which spectrum a station may use. One satellite service can need both, and the draft makes the applicable route depend on what sits on the ground.

Start with the gateway

For a gateway earth station, the draft calls for an International Gateway Systems and Services licence, a completed application and an annual frequency-utilization fee. The frequency authorization would last as long as that gateway licence. A satellite beam does not get a free pass just because its transmitter is pointed upward.

The customer end is less uniform. The draft says fixed-service user terminals need the infrastructure licences that fit the applicant’s role: landing rights for the signal, a gateway licence where a gateway is established, a Network Facility Provider licence for terrestrial infrastructure, an Application Service Provider licence for end-user service and a Communications Equipment Distributor licence for equipment supply and support. The document says operators can partner with licensed entities for some roles.

The licence path follows the job. A gateway operator, service provider, equipment distributor and terminal owner can be separate legal entities, each with its own role and permission. A useful framework lets each one find its licence without needing a regulatory decoder ring. The draft also puts control of proprietary user terminals on satellite operators, who must keep them within the prescribed operating conditions.

One frequency right, several clocks

The draft assigns different clocks to different services. Gateway frequency authorization follows the term of the gateway’s International Gateway Systems and Services licence. For VSATs, it follows the VSAT licence. For fixed user terminals and land-based Earth Stations in Motion, it follows the Application Service Provider licence. The draft also gives mobile satellite services an Application Service Provider route and an annual frequency-utilization fee. Broadcasting-satellite feeder links follow a fourth clock: their authorization lasts as long as the Landing Rights Authorization, with an annual frequency fee.

Other fixed satellite stations for navigation, Earth observation, space research, and telemetry, tracking and command require Authority authorization and landing rights.

The renewal calendar may sit with the licence holder while a partner operates the gateway or terminal. Contracts should name who files, who shares the renewal date and who updates the terminal-location return when either party changes.

The equipment layer sits alongside both. The draft says equipment used in the satellite network—including the provider’s core and access network and end-user equipment—will be subject to type approval. It also proposes that licensed satellite services maintain records of every network terminal and its location or area of operation, then send periodic returns required by the Authority.

The useful question is already in the consultation

The Authority asks whether the relationship between telecommunications licensing and frequency authorization is sufficiently clear. It also asks whether the proposed frequency requirements are clear and proportionate for geostationary and non-geostationary systems.

The consultation poses a field test. For each service path, an operator should be able to name the licence holder, station class, frequency authorization, annual fee schedule, controlling licence term, type-approval lead and owner of the terminal-location return. A service-by-service crosswalk would put those answers on one page.

The draft sends annual frequency-utilization fees to a separate fee schedule; the authorization clauses leave the amount to that schedule. Licence paths vary by service and infrastructure role, so each applicant’s map starts with the job it performs.

The consultation is open until 6 November 2026. The official response form asks contributors to identify the question or section, quote its current text, give comments, propose replacement wording and explain why. “We support satellite connectivity” is a sentiment. The useful submission is the one that draws the licence path for a real gateway, terminal or service and circles the step that still has two possible owners.

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