Frequency coordination (ITU)
The international procedure for registering orbital slots and frequency bands with the ITU, governed by first-come-first-served filing and a real use-it-or-lose-it deadline.
Frequency coordination is the procedure by which a state, acting on behalf of a satellite operator, asks the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to register an orbital slot and a frequency band. The rule is first come, first served, tempered by a real bring-into-use deadline: the satellite must actually occupy the slot within a set period or lose it. The procedure long suffered a well-documented abuse. Countries with little or no space infrastructure of their own filed speculative requests, hoping to resell or lease the rights obtained. Between 1990 and 1991, the Kingdom of Tonga filed with the ITU for thirty-one geostationary orbital slots, far beyond any plausible national need. The industry still remembers it as the paper satellites affair, and the episode pushed forward a debate on curbing speculative filings. For an insurer or a lender financing a satellite project, the strength of the client's frequency rights directly shapes the project's insurable value: a perfectly functional satellite stripped of coordinated spectrum has no exploitable commercial value.
Between 1990 and 1991, the Kingdom of Tonga files with the ITU for thirty-one geostationary orbital slots, far beyond any national need, an episode the industry still remembers as the paper satellites affair.
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