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Satellite group warns
investment at risk
unless policy settings
are fine-tuned
A key group representing
major global companies
in the commercial
satellite industry has
warned that Australia
risks losing both
important satellite
expertise and
significant investments
to overseas markets,
unless better regulatory
and investment-incentive
settings are enacted.
Responding to the
federal government's
review of Australia's
space industry
capability, the
Satellite Services
Working Group of
Communications Alliance
also called for better
engagement with the
commercial sector of the
space industry.
It noted that 75% of
global space activity
was in the commercial
sector and suggested
this should be reflected
in the way that
government engages with
the space sector as a
whole.
Ultimately, improved
engagement could come
via proposals for an
Australian Space Agency,
which the SSWG
acknowledged there was
significant support for.
However, it also
cautioned that any new
agency should reduce
rather than create
further red tape.
The submission said that
an Australian Space
Agency should be
designed primarily as an
organisation to provide
industry facilitation
and government
coordination/liaison.
“It is interesting to
note that the recently
created New Zealand
Space Agency has been
granted regulatory
powers. Some of our
members are not
convinced at this stage
that this would be
appropriate in
Australia. In
particular, members are
concerned about the risk
of simply creating an
additional regulatory
body and set of red tape
that has to be engaged
with,” the submission
noted.
According to the group,
the commercial side of
the Australian satellite
sector has long felt
that it has not always
been easy to open the
doors to contribute to
space policy
development. In 2013, in
the wake of an earlier
satellite utilisation
review, the government
created a Space Advisory
Council as a formal
avenue for input to
government from across
the space sector.
However, the submission
noted that in the
ensuing four years, the
SAC has never been
convened to hold its
first meeting.
“The SSWG believes that
the space review should
consider the
appropriateness of
recommending the
invigoration of the SAC
or a similar channel to
government, given that
this has not been
effective to date.
Clearly, if a space
agency was to be
established, it could
sensibly be responsible
for this function,” it
noted.
INVESTMENT INCENTIVE
NEEDED: The SSWG
submission used the
development of the
OneWeb global satellite
system, based in the UK,
and the emergence of New
Zealand as a satellite
launch location as two
recent examples of
overseas developments
that might lure skills
away to foreign
opportunities. It also
noted that Australia had
previously missed out on
a significant
ground-segment
investment by a global
operator primarily due
to licences fees that
were globally
uncompetitive.
“There is a material
risk that, unless
regulatory and
investment-incentive
settings are well
calibrated in Australia,
we will lose important
expertise to overseas
markets and miss out on
opportunities for
significant investment
in the Australian space
sector,” the submission
noted.
Some Communications
Alliance members have
also cited the public
liability insurance
requirements for an
overseas launch in
Australia as a barrier
to potential investment.
The SSWG submission
called for greater focus
on intellectual property
transfer and efforts to
build on Australia’s
existing skills in
terrestrial space
infrastructure,
telemetry, tracking and
control gateways and
user terminals. It
pointed to significant
new opportunities for
Australia in fields
including: •
satellite-based
resiliency solutions; •
next-generation
compression equipment; •
satellite backhaul to
support the roll-out of
new 5G mobile networks;
and • satellite
integration into
burgeoning Internet of
Things networks.
The SSWG proposes that
government better define
the altitude at which
“space” begins and
points to the potential
importance of the
high-altitude zone that
lies above the operating
domain of commercial
aircraft but below the
100km altitude that is
generally considered to
be the beginning of
space.
Written submissions to
the review closed last
week, while a series of
roundtable meetings are
scheduled in various
cities for the next two
weeks. The review, which
runs until March 2018,
is led by an expert
reference group chaired
by former CSIRO CEO
Megan Clark. Geoff Long,
Commsday |
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