If you operate (or plan to operate) a satellite system, ITU filings and international coordination are part of the “plumbing” that makes lawful, interference-managed use of spectrum possible across borders. The ITU process helps establish how a satellite network will use frequencies and orbital resources, and it creates a formal path for other administrations and operators to review, coordinate, and protect their existing or planned systems.
This guide explains the ITU filing lifecycle in practical terms, how coordination works, what timelines and risks to plan for, and how these steps connect to national licensing and real-world ground operations.
Table of contents
- What Are ITU Filings and Why They Matter
- Who Files With the ITU and How Operators Participate
- The Core ITU Process: API, CR/C/I, and Notification
- Coordination: What It Is and When It Triggers
- What Technical Data You Need to Prepare
- Common Pain Points: Timelines, Changes, and Bring-Into-Use
- How ITU Filings Connect to National Licensing
- Ground Stations, Earth Stations, and Coordination Realities
- Risk Management Strategy and Best Practices
- ITU Filings FAQ
- Glossary
What Are ITU Filings and Why They Matter
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the UN specialized agency for information and communication technologies. In satellite spectrum, the ITU framework provides the international rules and records used to manage spectrum and orbital resources across countries.
An ITU filing (often called a “network filing”) is the formal submission that describes a satellite network: its orbital characteristics, frequency use, coverage, and technical parameters. The filing process exists to reduce harmful interference by ensuring that other administrations can evaluate your plans and, when required, coordinate with you.
In practice, ITU filings don’t replace real engineering or national approvals—but they are often a prerequisite for long-term operational certainty and a key input for regulators, investors, insurers, and counterparties.
Who Files With the ITU and How Operators Participate
Only an administration (a national government authority responsible for spectrum) can submit filings to the ITU. Operators typically participate by:
Working through a sponsoring administration (often where the operator is headquartered or licensed).
Providing the technical network parameters and keeping them updated as the design evolves.
Leading engineering discussions during coordination and negotiating coordination agreements.
Aligning filings with national licenses (space segment authorization, earth station licensing, gateways, etc.).
This division of roles is important: operators do the technical and commercial work, but the administration holds the formal ITU relationship and filings.
The Core ITU Process: API, CR/C/I, and Notification
While the details vary by service and band, most satellite network filings follow a recognizable arc:
Advance Publication Information (API): An early “heads up” to the world that a network is planned, with high-level parameters. This starts the visibility clock and helps other administrations understand what may be coming.
Coordination Request / Technical Filing (often referred to as CR/C/I): The detailed technical submission that enables formal compatibility analysis and identifies which other networks/administrations must be coordinated with (based on defined criteria).
Notification / Recording: The step intended to record frequency assignments in the ITU Master International Frequency Register (MIFR) once conditions are met and coordination requirements are satisfied.
Think of it as: announce → file the technical details → coordinate where required → record and maintain.
Coordination: What It Is and When It Triggers
Coordination is the structured process of ensuring that your planned network can coexist with other networks without causing harmful interference, according to ITU rules and thresholds.
Coordination can be triggered by things like:
Overlapping frequency bands with other filings.
Orbital proximity (especially relevant for GSO/GEO arcs, but also operationally important elsewhere).
Coverage overlap where your beams and another network’s beams affect the same regions.
Interference analysis criteria defined in the Radio Regulations for the service in question.
The practical reality: coordination is often a mix of formal ITU-driven identification of affected parties plus direct operator-to-operator technical negotiation to reach workable constraints (power limits, pointing limits, geographic restrictions, time-sharing, polarization plans, etc.).
What Technical Data You Need to Prepare
ITU filings require consistent technical descriptions of your system. Exact requirements depend on service type, but operators commonly prepare:
Orbit and constellation parameters: orbital regime, altitude/inclination, station-keeping approach (where applicable), ephemeris assumptions.
Frequencies and bandwidths: uplink/downlink bands, channelization, emission designators, guard bands.
Beam/coverage characteristics: service areas, contours, antenna patterns, gain, sidelobe behavior.
Power and EIRP details: maximum levels, density, operational modes, dynamic control behaviors.
Modulation/coding and link assumptions: enough to support compatibility studies and worst-case scenarios.
Earth station assumptions: gateway locations (if known), earth station G/T, antenna sizes, pointing constraints.
Consistency matters because filings become a reference point for compatibility analysis. Major design changes after filing can create rework, delays, or re-coordination.
Common Pain Points: Timelines, Changes, and Bring-Into-Use
Operators often underestimate how much program risk sits in filings and coordination. Common issues include:
Timeline mismatch: coordination can take longer than spacecraft build and launch schedules, especially if multiple parties are involved.
Design churn: changing orbits, bands, beam plans, or power limits after filing can trigger amendments and renewed coordination effort.
Dependency chains: your ability to finalize may depend on other filings, national licenses, or agreements you don’t fully control.
Bring-into-use obligations: many filings require demonstrating that the network is actually brought into operation within defined time limits; if you
miss key milestones, your filing priority may be at risk.
The operator takeaway: treat ITU work as a core workstream with program management ownership, not a late-stage paperwork task.
How ITU Filings Connect to National Licensing
ITU filings are international, but most of your legal authority to build and operate comes from national regulators. A typical stack looks like:
Space segment authorization: permission to operate spacecraft and use spectrum under a national regime.
Earth station licensing: authorizations for gateway stations, teleports, and operational uplinks/downlinks.
Market access permissions: approvals to provide service in specific countries (especially for comms/broadband).
Coordination obligations: national regulators may require evidence of coordination progress or constraints.
The key point: your ITU strategy should be designed to support your national licensing path and vice versa. Mismatches (bands, service areas, power) create delays.
Ground Stations, Earth Stations, and Coordination Realities
Ground operations are where regulatory theory meets RF reality. Even with a strong ITU filing, ground stations need local spectrum permissions and must operate within real constraints:
Gateway site selection: location choices can change coordination impacts (coverage overlap and interference geometry).
Earth station parameters: antenna size, pointing accuracy, polarization, and power control affect compatibility outcomes.
Operational discipline: spectrum monitoring, emission control, and strict configuration management help prevent coordination problems turning into
outages or complaints.
Shared facilities: teleports and multi-tenant ground stations may introduce additional coordination needs due to proximity of systems.
For operators building a ground network, it’s smart to align filing assumptions with the most likely gateway geographies early—even if you keep flexibility where possible.
Risk Management Strategy and Best Practices
A practical approach that reduces surprises:
Start early: begin filings and coordination planning alongside mission architecture, not after hardware selection.
Freeze the “filing baseline”: define what parameters must remain stable to avoid rework, and track changes formally.
Design for coexistence: plan margins and operational constraints that make coordination agreements easier to reach.
Know your stakeholders: identify likely affected networks and initiate engineering discussions before issues become formal disputes.
Build an evidence trail: keep clear records of analyses, assumptions, and agreements—useful for regulators, partners, and future modifications.
Operationalize compliance: ensure your NOC/ground ops can enforce the constraints you agree to (power limits, beam masks, geographic restrictions).
ITU Filings FAQ
Do ITU filings give me the right to operate everywhere?
No. ITU filings are part of international spectrum management and coordination, but you still need national authorizations (space segment licensing, earth station licenses, market access) in the countries where you operate and sell service.
Why does coordination take so long?
Because it’s both technical and negotiated. Compatibility analysis can be complex, and reaching an agreement often means reconciling competing commercial and operational priorities across multiple parties and administrations.
What happens if my system design changes after filing?
Minor changes may be manageable, but major shifts (frequencies, coverage, orbit assumptions, power/beam plans) can trigger amendments and renewed coordination work. This is why teams try to establish a stable filing baseline early.
What does “bring into use” mean in practice?
It generally refers to demonstrating that the filed network has been put into actual operation within required timelines and conditions. Operators should treat this as a program milestone with engineering and regulatory ownership.
Glossary
ITU: International Telecommunication Union, responsible for global spectrum and satellite coordination frameworks.
Administration: A national authority responsible for spectrum management and ITU interactions.
Filing (satellite network filing): A formal ITU submission describing a planned or operating satellite network’s technical characteristics.
API: Advance Publication Information—an early publication of a planned network’s basic parameters.
Coordination: The process of ensuring compatibility with other networks according to ITU rules and thresholds.
Notification: A step aimed at recording frequency assignments in the ITU’s international register (MIFR) once conditions are satisfied.
MIFR: Master International Frequency Register—the ITU record of frequency assignments intended to support international recognition and protection.
Earth station: A ground facility (gateway/teleport/ground station) that transmits to and receives from satellites under licensed conditions.
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