TUPPER LAKE, NY — International Telecommunication Union (ITU) regulators, demonstrating a harder line in granting satellite deployment deadline extension, refused Australia’s request for a two-year extension to deploy the Optus 11 satellite at 160 degrees east in geostationary orbit.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) had asked the ITU’s Radio Regulations Board (RRB) to consider that the four-year delay in Optus 11, under construction by Airbus Defence and Space, was beyond the control of satellite operator Optus.
