ITU Radiocommunication Bureau Director Valery Timofeev and other participants in an ITU-R workshop on the efficient use of spectrum and orbital resources agreed that regulatory changes in the international satellite registration process are needed to combat the issue of “paper satellites” and the related problem of spectrum warehousing. Earlier this month, ITU-R workshop participants gathered in Geneva with an eye toward the 2011 ITU World Radiocommunications Conference, where proposed changes to current ITU procedures on satellite registration and coordination are expected to be introduced. Pointing to the increasing difficulty of obtaining and coordinating new orbital positions and spectrum amongst the rising tide of space networks worldwide, Timofeev told workshop members that his bureau has called upon administrations “to review the use of their recorded satellite networks and . . . to remove unused frequency assignments and networks from the master register.” A nagging problem for the ITU and for satellite market entrants lies in “paper” satellite registrations through which operators and administrations stake claims to vast amounts of orbital and spectrum resources for which they have no specific plan of use. Such filings, according to Timofeev, include characteristics that are far beyond “reasonable for normal operations and delivery of expected services,” resulting in “almost absurd coordination requirements.” Other examples cited in the workshop include filings for satellites that impossibly operate in all corners of the earth, using all available frequency bands and extreme levels of power. As such satellite claims “eat up a huge amount of spectrum,” Telecomm Strategies President Richard Barnett said “there is no usable Ku-band” satellite spectrum or orbital space left as a result for new satellite operators, especially in the developing world. To remedy the problem, a representative of the Office of Spectrum Management Services said the ITU should (1) improve software to ensure databases are kept up to date, especially for suspended and canceled networks, (2) reduce processing times for notifications, (3) accurately identify and timely publish information needed by administrations and operators to complete the coordination process, and (4) encourage better international monitoring and feedback on launches.