The Satellite Communications Services Regulations 1995

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Satellite Communications Services Regulations 1995 and shall come into force on 14th August 1995.

Interpretation and effect

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Telecommunications Act 1984(1);

“the Directive” means Commission Directive 94/46/EC(2) amending Directive 88/301/EEC(3) and Directive 90/388/EEC(4) in particular with regard to satellite communications;

“EEA State” means a State, not being a member State(5), which is a Contracting Party to the European Economic Area Agreement;

“licence” means, save in paragraph (3) of this regulation, a licence to run a telecommunications system granted pursuant to section 7 of the Act;

“network termination point” means all physical connections and their technical access specifications which form part of the public telecommunications network and are necessary for access to and efficient communication through that public network;

“public voice telephony” means the commercial provision for the public of the direct transport and switching of speech in real-time between public switched network (or the equivalent in such other State) termination points, enabling any user to use equipment connected to such a network termination point in order to communicate with any other network termination point;

“satellite earth station” means a station for wireless telegraphy established for the purposes of providing uplinks and downlinks between itself and space segment; and

“satellite services” means the provision of satellite communications services or the provision of satellite network services or both; and in this definition—

(a)

“satellite communication services” means any service other than radio or television broadcasting to the public whose provision makes use, wholly or partly, of satellite network services; and

(b)

“satellite network services” means the establishment and operation of satellite earth station networks; these services consist, as a minimum, in the establishment, by satellite earth stations, of radiocommunications to space segment (“uplinks”), and in the establishment of radiocommunications between space segment and satellite earth stations (“downlinks”).

(2) Words and expressions used in these Regulations shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the same meaning as in the Act.

(3) Nothing in these Regulations shall be taken as dispensing with the requirement for a licence granted under section 1 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 for the establishment and use of any satellite earth station.

Licensees authorised to provide full range of satellite services in traffic between the United Kingdom, and the European Community and European Economic Area

3.  The Schedule hereto shall have effect for the purposes of amending the licences specified therein to permit the provision of all satellite services, other than those consisting in public voice telephony, between a network termination point in the United Kingdom and a network termination point in another member State or EEA State, to comply with the requirements of the Directive.

Ian Taylor

Minister for Science and Technology,

Department of Trade and Industry

24th July 1995