Summary

  • Ofcom has opened up to 8 GHz of Q/V band spectrum for satellite gateways in the high-density areas that cover 6% of UK landmass, after opening up to 10 GHz in the rest of the country in March.
  • Urban downlink use of 40.5–42.5 GHz takes a separate Local Access application because the band also sits in a mobile award. The ordinary gateway window has opened immediately.

A satellite gateway likes a good route into the internet. In a city, that can mean nearby fibre and data centres. It also needs a lawful route through the air. Ofcom’s 23 October decision opens the latter across 68 high-density areas. The regulator calls them the remaining 6% of UK landmass outside its March Q/V gateway authorisation. Applications under ordinary gateway licences are open now.

The tempting number is 8 GHz. That is the maximum spectrum newly available for urban gateways, compared with up to 10 GHz in lower-density areas. The practical story is in the missing two. Under the final statement, the standard urban licence permits downlinks at 37.5–40.5 GHz. It leaves 40.5–42.5 GHz outside that route. Mobile operators received licences in the wider 40.5–43.5 GHz range after the 2025 millimetre-wave auction, and Ofcom judged blanket satellite access in the urban slice too complicated to share.

The side door is a Local Access application. A gateway operator can seek Local Access permission for a specific location. Ofcom says this route should be simplest where the satellite applicant has first agreed an approach with mobile licensees that do not expect to roll out there. The regulator will watch how that arrangement works. The contrast is operational: one application joins the standard gateway queue; another must show that a particular site can coexist with rights already issued around it.

The new standard route remains a licence process, assessed first come, first served. It has antenna, power and elevation conditions. Access in 39.5–40.5 GHz and 50.4–51.4 GHz also requires coordination with the Ministry of Defence. Ofcom reports one Q/V gateway authorised in a lower-density area at publication. Its decision reports no urban build or capacity gain. The fresh fact is the legal opening, with a second path beside it.