Harmful Interference to FSS and BSS Satellite Networks in Europe

99th RRB meeting

The Board considered in detail Document RRB25-2/6, from the Administration of Sweden, and Document RRB25-2/12, from the Administration of Luxembourg, regarding harmful interference to their respective satellite networks and services. The Board also noted Document RRB25-2/DELAYED/2, from the Administration of the Russian Federation, and Document RRB25-2/DELAYED/14, from the Administration of France, both for information. The Board noted the following points:

The Administration of Sweden had continued to receive harmful interference to its FSS satellite services in the 13/14 GHz range that originated from the territory of the Russian Federation (Pionersky, Kaliningrad) and the Crimean Peninsula (Sevastopol) despite the many letters sent by the Administration of Sweden to ITU and the Administration of the Russian Federation,  the Board’s requests  in the matter and the bilateral meeting between the Administrations of the Russian Federation and Sweden on 13 March 2025.
The Administration of Sweden had previously reported harmful interference to BSS feeder links in the 18 GHz range but no such harmful interference had been reported since the 98th Board meeting.
The Administration of the Russian Federation had still not engaged in discussions with the Administration of Luxembourg despite several unfruitful attempts by the Bureau to organize a meeting.
The Administration of the Russian Federation had investigated the cases reported but had identified no radio devices that might have caused harmful interference (content spoofing) to the BSS feeder links for the satellite networks SIRIUS-4-BSS, SIRIUS-5E-2, SIRIUS-5-BSS-2, SIRIUS-6-BSS, F-SAT-N3-21.5E, F-SAT-N-E-13E, F-SAT-N3-13E, F-SAT-N3-10E and EUTELSAT 3-10E in the 18 GHz range.
According to the Administration of the Russian Federation, the interference to the receiving space stations of the satellite services of France, Sweden and Luxembourg in the 13/14 GHz range might be due to the use of military radio equipment.
The Administration of the Russian Federation had invoked the issue of the peaceful use of the civilian space infrastructure of France, Sweden and Luxembourg and had set the resolution of that issue in United Nations bodies, other than ITU, as a pre-condition for its engagement in any further meetings with those administrations.

The Board expressed the view that compliance with treaty obligations under the ITU Constitution and Radio Regulations could not be conditioned on the resolution of an issue outside the scope of ITU. Consequently, the Board again strongly urged the Administration of the Russian Federation:

to immediately cease any deliberate action to cause harmful interference to frequency assignments of other administrations;
to continue investigating whether any earth station currently deployed at, or close to, the locations identified by geolocation measurements might have the capability to cause harmful interference in the 13/14 GHz frequency range, and to take the necessary actions in compliance with Article 45 of the ITU Constitution (“All stations, whatever their purpose, must be established and operated in such a manner as not to cause harmful interference to the radio services or communications of other Member States…”), so as to prevent the reoccurrence of such harmful interference;
to provide information on the status of its investigation and actions carried out since the cases had been reported and prior to the 100th Board meeting.

The Board instructed the Bureau to:

convene further meetings of the Administrations of the Russian Federation, France, Sweden and Luxembourg in the second half of 2025, so as to resolve the harmful interference cases reported by administrations and prevent their reoccurrence;
invite all the administrations concerned to cooperate in goodwill to solve the cases of harmful interference;
report on progress to the 100th Board meeting.

Furthermore, referring to its discussion of the case at its previous meetings, the Board decided to accede to the request of the Administrations of France and Sweden to publish the relevant information under resolves to instruct the Radio Regulations Board 2 of Resolution 119 (Rev. Bucharest 2022) of the Plenipotentiary Conference. The Board therefore instructed the Bureau to develop the relevant webpage for consideration at the next Board meeting.