SpaceX, OneWeb receive Australian spectrum
December 22, 2020
By Chris Forrester
SpaceX and OneWeb, along with other satellite and telco operators, has been granted millimetre wave spectrum in Australia by the country’s media regulator.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has issued licences in the 26GHz and 28 GHz bands to SpaceX Starlink as well as OneWeb, New Skies Satellite/SES, O3b/SES, Inmarsat, Viasat, Telstra, Optus, Vocus, Nokia, NBN, Opticomm and others.
The licences allow use of 5G/millimetre wave spectrum and are effective in January 2021. Licence-holders are limited to 1GHz of bandwidth. Fifteen companies made applications.
“Using the new area-wide licences, applicants were able to identify the regions and amount of spectrum they would seek to use,” ACMA said. “Spectrum which was not allocated in this initial application round in the 26GHz (24.7–25.1GHz) and 28 GHz (27.5-29.5GHz) bands will be made available for allocation in January 2021.”
ACMA says a number of successful applicants intend to provide wireless broadband services across all states and territories and across urban, regional and rural areas.