The management of the C- and Ku-bands served by the Azerspace-1 satellite located in the 46° East longitude geostationary slot is registered in the name of the Government of Azerbaijan. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has now granted approval for the registration .
The Azerspace-1 telecommunication satellite, which was launched in 2013, is now operating in the Azerbaijan orbit.
The activity for transferring the position to Azerbaijan started on December 8, 2020, with the submission of the necessary documents to the ITU. Although the achievement of an orbital position covers a period under the seven-year ITU rule, this process was completed in three years by Azerbaijan’s specialists in this field.
During the past three years, the Azerbaijani side has successfully concluded coordination negotiations on 265 satellite networks of 34 governments and reached agreements. Note that the 46° E GSO slot is the first and only orbital position that Azerbaijan has in the geostationary belt. This also allows Azerbaijan to deploy future telecommunication satellites in its unique orbital slot.
The geostationary orbit, which became a restricted space for satellites operating in telecommunications, broadcasting, and weather forecasting, is located at approximately 36,000 from the equator. The main importance of this height is that the satellites here rotate at the same speed as the Earth’s surface. As a consequence, both satellite operators and customers, as well as those who watch television and radio from home via satellite, can receive a continuous signal from the satellite by keeping their antennas directed at one point.
Many countries formally apply to the ITU for the use of available orbital positions in the geostationary orbit — the satellites that will be located in those positions are currently being assembled or waiting for launch. When a satellite in geostationary space reaches the end of its 15 to 20 years of life, the country that owns the orbital position has the opportunity to replace the satellite in that position. This principle of regulation actually allows countries to maintain their positions indefinitely.