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The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today proposed to grant SpaceX’s Starlink service “temporary authorisation” to harness the E band frequencies for their mega constellation of compact ultrafast broadband satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The move would expand their backhaul capacity at three gateway earth station sites within the UK.
At present Starlink has around 7,580 satellites in Low Earth Orbit (c.3,880 are v2 Mini / GEN 2A) – mostly at altitudes of c.500-600km – and they’ll add thousands more by the end of 2027. Residential customers in the UK typically pay from £75 a month, plus £299 for hardware on the ‘Standard’ unlimited data plan (currently free in some areas on a 12-month term), which promises latency times of 25-60ms, downloads of 25-100Mbps and uploads of 5-10Mbps.
However, Starlink’s growing network is in need of new capacity to support its expansion, which has resulted in the company requesting temporary authorisation to use E band (71-76GHz and 81-86GHz) spectrum at three of its existing gateway sites: Morn Hill (Hampshire), Wherstead (Suffolk) and Woodwalton (Cambridgeshire).
The regulator has today proposed to grant these temporary authorisations, which would expire on 31st December 2028. But they would be subject to some technical conditions in order to protect existing uses for Fixed Service and the Earth Exploration Satellite Service (passive).
The reason for this being only a temporary measure is because Ofcom are still in the process of developing their plans for making spectrum in the Q, V and E bands available for satellite gateways. But given Starlink’s request for the spectrum, Ofcom has decided to phase this work, although they still plan to consult on the longer-term authorisation of gateways in E band in 2028 – following the next World Radiocommunication Conference in 2027 (WRC-27). The regulator also still intends to make the Q/V bands available for satellite gateways and they’ll consult on that in Q2 2025/6.
“We consider that, subject to these conditions, issuing these licences on a temporary basis should not unduly affect other services using E band and adjacent frequencies,” said Ofcom’s statement. The proposal is currently subject to consultation until 27th June 2025. The final decision would then, short of any unexpected delays, be confirmed on Q2 2025/6.