Apply for a Temporary E Band Gateway Licence

Non-geostationary Earth Stations (NGSO Gateways)

The temporary E Band earth station licences are used to temporarily authorise access for gateways in E Band (71 – 76 GHz and 81 – 86 GHz) NGSO gateways connect the NGSO satellite system to the internet or private networks.   
The gateway earth stations can be used by operators to support their provision of services, including direct-to-consumer broadband, broadband services to businesses, telcos and governments, and Internet of Things. 

How to apply

1. New application form (Ofw618)
2. Deployment spreadsheet template
3. Alongside the completed application form, we also require:

• • The technical parameters for the requested earth station(s)
  • Coexistence studies taking into account aggregate interference with in-band and adjacent-band spectrum users, including terrestrial services and Earth Exploration Satellite Services (EESS).
  • Evidence of demand for this spectrum and the specific customer, and citizen benefits that would be enabled by Ofcom granting a temporary licence.
  • Evidence that the applicant can roll-out services using this spectrum within 3 months of a licence being granted.
  • If you already hold a Temporary E Band Gateway Licence and wish to add more gateways, you should provide:
    
    
    • Justification for additional gateways - Evidence of capacity constraints or increased demand that cannot be met with existing authorised sites.
    • Updated technical and coexistence information - Revised technical parameters for the new gateways and updated coexistence studies showing the impact on in-band and adjacent-band users, including any aggregate interference considerations.
    • Deployment timeline - Evidence that the additional gateways can be operational within 3 months of licence being granted.
    • Impact assessment - Any changes to competition resulting from the additional temporary gateway earth station(s)

We may ask for additional information as part of this application process. For stakeholders considering applying for a Temporary E Band Gateway Licence, we recommend first engaging with our NGSO licensing team (NGSO.licensing@ofcom.org.uk). 

Additional information

Stakeholders should note that we anticipate longer timeframes for assessing any such applications for temporary authorisation to use E band, than currently apply under our standard NGSO licensing process. We expect to consult on all temporary E band NGSO gateway licence applications.

For applications for permanent NGSO network or NGSO gateway licences, please see our NGSO licensing webpage.

These licences will be granted on a temporary basis, with a fixed end date of 31 December 2028. This allows us to review the framework, consulting on a long-term authorisation, post World Radiocommunications Conference 2027. For more detail, please see our statement.

The fees for this licence product are aligned with the fees for NGSO gateway licences in Ku and Ka band. We have recently consulted on new fees for NGSO gateway licences and prospective licensees should be aware that fees for Temporary E Band Gateway licences are subject to change following the outcome of that consultation process. You can subscribe to spectrum email updates to be notified when we publish decision.

How we will assess applications

When considering applications for these temporary licences, we will conduct a range of checks and assessments, including but not limited to:

• A coexistence check between new E band gateways and incumbent fixed links and consideration of evidence provided by the applicant to protect adjacent EESS (passive) services. 
• A check that MOD requirements have been addressed for the proposed sites.
• We will also consider coexistence with future NGSO and GSO gateways as part of this assessment including aggregate interference. 
• An assessment of the impact of granting these licences on competition; and 
• An impact assessment, which considers the benefits, costs, and risks of granting a temporary licence.

Applicants will be expected to show how their proposed gateways can coexist with:

• Existing Temporary E Band Gateways that are licensed in the UK (see the existing licences section below); and
• Temporary E Band Gateways for which an application has been submitted and published on this page, below.

We may ask for additional information as part of this process. We will also publish and invite comments on applications that we are considering authorising.

Existing licences 

You can download a copy of the licence document by opening the link in the licensee's name. The licences are subject to the terms of the General Licence Conditions booklet - version OfW 597 (PDF, 236.8 KB).

Applications received

We invite comments on any application we have received and published below. The deadline for responses is included alongside each application.

You can submit comments on an application by using the response form from each consultation page.

We will publish all non-confidential responses once the consultation has closed. You can subscribe to spectrum email updates (selecting ‘Radio Spectrum’) in the list of sectors) to be notified when we publish a new application or decision. 

We will also consider applications for Geostationary gateway earth stations in E band (71 – 76 GHz and 81 – 86 GHz). If there is interest in applying for a Temporary E Band (Geostationary) gateway licence, please first contact the team: ngso.licensing@ofcom.org.uk.

The rest of this page contains information on how to apply to operate temporary NGSO gateways in E band.