General Regulations for Satellite Services Approved

The Secretariat of Innovation, Science, and Technology published Resolution 58/2025 in the Official Gazette on April 8, 2025, approving the new General Regulations for Management and Satellite Services and repealing Resolutions 2325/1997 and 3609/1999 of the former Secretariat of Communications.

The purpose of the Regulation is to regulate the provision of satellite facilities and satellite services of artificial satellites, both geostationary and non-geostationary orbit, to be provided in Argentina, and operating in the bands allocated to the Fixed Satellite Service (FSS), Mobile Satellite Service (MSS), and Broadcasting Satellite Service (BSS), in accordance with the provisions of the Radio Regulations of the International Telecommunication Union and the Table of Frequency Band Allocations of the Argentine Republic (CABFRA). Thus, the new Regulation replaces and unifies the regulations on this matter that the previous (and now repealed) resolutions included.

The recitals of the Resolution state that the Regulation was approved to simplify, optimize, and provide transparency to the administrative procedures associated with the provision of satellite facilities and to the provision of satellite services. Accordingly, the Regulation adopts the guidelines of the Registry for the Provision of Satellite Facilities in Resolution 12/2024, the requirements of which applicants must comply with mainly to avoid interference and ensure proper coordination in the use of radio frequencies. The Regulation also includes provisions on the use of non-Argentine satellites and on earth stations dedicated exclusively to satellite links without signal distribution in Argentina.

As a novelty, the Resolutions updates definitions of the repealed regulation and incorporates concepts such as earth stations in motion (ETEM or ESIM) that collaborate with the provision of fixed satellite service, providing broadband communications on board vessels, aircraft, or land transport in motion. It also establishes that providers of satellite facilities, manufacturers of intervening equipment, and satellite service providers must comply with risk assessments, cybersecurity standards, and Argentine defense legislation.

Finally, in connection with the Regulation, The Argentine Communications Agency issued  Resolution 608/2025, published in the Official Gazette on April 23, 2025, which establishes that applicants must pay an annual fee of an amount equivalent to USD 10,000 for registering any satellite system operating in Argentina. This fee will be reduced by half when the satellite system includes in its network infrastructure a master earth station and/or the telemetry, remote control, and telemetry earth station located in Argentina.