Competition in Orbit: Regulatory Options

Earth orbit has long been used for commercial activities. Corporations across the globe have, for more than half a century, been investing heavily in space assets to provide communications, broadcasting, and earth observation services from a range of orbits. Traditionally, investment in a single satellite has cost tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. Innovations and the development of technology has seen the format for commercial satellites shift from large and expensive single units with high service capacities, to small satellites used on mass in lower orbits across several planes. The rapid deployment of tens of thousands of satellites by some operators has seen the emergence of concerns regarding whether it is sustainable for such high numbers of satellites to be in orbit while also ensuring that access is preserved for future space activities.

This paper will consider whether competition, restrictive trade practices and anti-trust laws can be extended to operators of satellite constellations, and consider whether the actions of large satellite constellations violate these laws. This paper will adopt a specific focus on compatibility of large satellite constellation activity with the Australian Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). While this paper will note that there are significant concerns around the operation of satellite constellations and the possibility for future operators to successfully establish themselves in a market that is rapidly becoming saturated (by individual satellites and operators), Australian laws are ill-suited to address the issue. This paper concludes that laws in other countries, especially where there is a focus on monopolisation as opposed to misuses of market power, may provide regulatory triggers that can be used where commercial uses of orbit begin to prevent new operators from entering the space services market.