African negotiators have agreed the outline of a common position on satellite direct-to-device (D2D) services, the single most advanced item from the African Telecommunications Union's third preparatory meeting for WRC-27, which closed on 11 September in Tunis.

The approved text covers agenda item 1.13, the WRC-27 study of new mobile-satellite service (MSS) allocations in IMT bands between 694 MHz and 2.7 GHz. It settles a framework but not the numbers. Final power level restrictions are absent.

What the text does fix matters commercially. DC-MSS-IMT — direct connectivity between an MSS space station and IMT user equipment — remains secondary to terrestrial IMT. Only standardised handsets qualify. TDD bands are excluded. National administrations, not the ITU, retain authority to license the commercial tie-up between a satellite operator and the domestic mobile operator whose spectrum it would use.

The position is still labelled "proposed" rather than settled. The toughest technical questions go unanswered until after the second Conference Preparatory Meeting, CPM27-2, in April 2027.

What does this change for African operators?

For now, control stays national. A satellite operator wanting to serve an African market must strike a deal with the local licensee, and that deal answers to the domestic regulator. The ATU framework removes any prospect of an ITU-level override.

The meeting heard a sharp split between satellite and mobile interests. Satellite operator NewSky warned that a "no change" outcome at WRC-27 would favour early movers. Some operators already deploy D2D commercially on a non-conforming basis, under the Radio Regulations' generic no-interference provision. NewSky said this could lock in a "first-in-orbit, winner-takes-all" market position before any harmonised framework exists. It argued for a primary or co-primary MSS allocation to keep the field open to competitors.

The GSMA and the vendor body GSA pushed the opposite case. Both want stricter protection assumptions for terrestrial networks. Contributions to ITU-R Working Party 5D suggest the gap between the two camps' preferred handset parameters would relax the interference limit on satellites by around 7 dB.

The GSA also wants TDD bands excluded outright. A separate working-group paper found coexistence so problematic that it "will not be possible for neighbouring African countries to deploy DC-MSS-IMT harmoniously" alongside South Africa's full-TDD 2.6 GHz network.

ATU secretary-general John Omo told delegates the meeting had worked through "virtually all" WRC-27 agenda items in four working days. He singled out item 1.13 as one he had personally "had to grapple with at the secretariat for some time". Any resulting use of D2D technology "has got to be on our terms as Africa", he said.

Less agreement on future mobile spectrum

Agenda item 1.7 drew less consensus. The ITU is studying whether 4400–4800 MHz, 7125–8400 MHz and 14.8–15.35 GHz could be identified for IMT, in support of 5G-Advanced and IMT-2030 (6G) networks.

Boeing urged a "no change" position on 4400–4800 MHz, citing its proximity to the 4200–4400 MHz radio altimeter band. Any WRC-27 identification takes effect from 1 January 2029. Boeing argued that date would run far ahead of the years-long process of certifying and retrofitting altimeters able to withstand adjacent-band IMT interference — a timeline it said could stretch "into the mid-2030s". The company stated that "public and aviation safety must not be put at risk".

The satellite operators' association GSOA opposed identification in the 4500–4800 and 7125–8400 MHz ranges, arguing sharing with IMT was "not feasible". It also noted Africa had already secured 6425–7125 MHz for IMT at WRC-23.

Sierra Leone's regulator backed mobile identification where possible and a "harmonised African approach" wherever studies show feasibility. The ATU for now emphasises incumbent protection, while leaving identification open once compatibility conditions are established.

WRC-31 items take shape

APM27-3 also addressed agenda item 10, the standing channel through which the ITU Council sets WRC-31 topics. Other regional groups' preliminary candidates lean toward Earth exploration-satellite spectrum: RCC proposals for new EESS allocations at 3000–3100 MHz, 3300–3400 MHz and 7900–8025 MHz, and CEPT-backed items at 22.55–23.15 GHz and 40 GHz.

The ATU is weighing new fixed-satellite service gateway and feeder links in the W and D bands, additional FSS spectrum in Ku-band, and a review of the lower UHF band for mobile use.

Nigeria proposed extending the WRC-31 agenda item on lower UHF spectrum to include African countries, so the region shapes the future of 470–694 MHz in Region 1. No African consensus exists on that proposal yet. Former Nigerian Communications Commission and NASENI executive vice-chairman Bashir Gwandu backed it in a keynote, pressing governments to pursue IMT identification of the 600 MHz band. Its propagation characteristics could deliver cheaper rural broadband, he argued.

Gwandu put the stakes plainly: more than 135 million rural Africans remain unconnected, and regulators should make "bold decisions" to connect them rather than avoid difficult policy choices. The ATU's D2D framework now goes to member states, with the unresolved power limits and handset parameters due for decision after CPM27-2 in April 2027.