Summary

  • Ofcom's 23 October decision opens additional Ku and Ka uplink frequencies for satellite terminals on UK-registered ships and aircraft, with GSO and NGSO permissions drawn on different maps.
  • Updated licences are expected in early 2027. A proposed change to network licences also adds Heathrow to the airports requiring coordination with the Airport Authority; representations close on 14 December.

A ship and an aircraft can both point a terminal at a satellite. Passengers may use the connection for information and entertainment; crews and operators can use it for private communications and navigation support. The paperwork refuses to travel as lightly. Ofcom's 23 October decision adds Ku and Ka uplink frequencies for Earth Stations in Motion, or ESIMs, carried by UK-registered vessels and aircraft. It is a bigger patch of sky under a carefully divided set of licences.

The 100-page final statement separates geostationary from non-geostationary satellites and air from sea. For GSO links, both aircraft and ships gain 12.75–13.25 GHz and two specified Ka-band slices. NGSO aircraft gain 27.5–29.1 GHz and 29.5–30 GHz; NGSO ships gain narrower additions within 27.8185–29.1 GHz. Those bands are uplinks from a moving terminal. A headline about “more satellite spectrum” misses the operational question: which terminal, on which route, talking to which orbit?

Ofcom links the decision to arrangements agreed at the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference. It says the additional frequencies will become available to UK-registered ships and aircraft from early 2027. The regulator will first update the Earth Station Network licence, then make the extra frequencies available on request to existing Ship and Aircraft radio licensees. New applicants will see them in revised licence templates. A published spectrum decision has begun the change; the authorisations are the next pieces of paper.

One extra signature sits at Heathrow. Ofcom's licence page and General Notice add the airport to the aerodromes where an ESN licensee must coordinate with the Airport Authority before bringing service. The condition reaches all frequencies and uses under that licence, so it extends beyond the fresh bands. Existing ESN licensees may make representations by 5 p.m. on 14 December 2026. Ofcom expects to decide that variation in January 2027.

At sea, the map also has a coastline. For specified frequencies, international rules retain separation distances of 158 km in Ku band and 70 km in Ka band unless the relevant administration agrees otherwise. The statement's allocation table draws narrower permissions for UK waters than for international waters. Permission travels with geography as well as the vessel.