UAE has resources to take lead in broadcast agency

Abu Dhabi: As the only Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country with an independent national communication satellite company, the UAE should take the lead in pushing for the creation of a new International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) region, a senior radio technology executive said in the capital on Tuesday.

A new IARU region, Region 4, for the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) countries will enable a more equitable use of spectrum and orbital slots and break down the current "spectrum colonisation", said Thomas Choi, co-founder and chief executive officer of Asia Broadcast Satellite.

"Slots for radio communication satellites, which orbit the earth at a distance of 38,000 kilometres, are limited at present, and this is a major factor which prevents newer Mena region companies from launching more communication satellites. Creating a new region will therefore reassign orbital slots and allow for radio broadcast revenue to flow back to Mena companies," Choi said.

He was speaking at a conference within the Global Space and Satellite Forum, which kicked off in the capital.

The forum saw leading telecommunication and space technology executives, government representatives and academicians discuss trends and commercial opportunities within the industry.

Based on the International Telecommunications Union assignment, the world currently has three IARU regions.

Region 1 includes Europe, northern Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Region 2 comprises North and South America, while Region 3 includes Australia, Asia and a large portion of Asia.

Because the Mena region is grouped within Region 1, larger and more established firms both inside and outside the region can file applications for, and gain, regional orbital slots more easily than newer communications firms in the Mena countries.

As a result, 80 per cent of the Mena radio broadcasting and use revenue, which amounts to about $15 billion (Dh55 billion) per year, flows to companies based outside the region.