Establishing and operating an earth station and a radar directed at the stratosphere or space requires a licence. The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom) serves as the competent licencing and supervisory authority.
This page will provide you with information on when you need a licence for earth station and radar operations, how to apply for a licence and which information you need to provide on the application, among other things.
When do you need a licence for earth station and radar operations?
The licencing requirement for earth station and radar operations is laid down in the act on earth stations and certain radars (laki maa-asemista ja eräistä tutkista (96/2023) (External link), available in Finnish and Swedish). The act entered into force on 1 February 2023.
Establishing and operating an earth station and radar are subject to licence with the exception of conventional satellite service use. Regulated earth station activities include the reception and transmission of information and signals from and to various systems in space. Radar activities include the transmission of radio signals and laser pulses to the stratosphere or space and receiving the radar echoes reflected from them.
The scope of application of the act does not cover the conventional use of satellite services. The act will not be applied to the reception of transmissions intended for general reception (such as satellite TV and radio amateur operations), the programme production connections of short-term mobile satellite services, test use or conventional satellite terminals not operating subject to a licence (e.g. the positioning devices of conventional smart devices and navigators).
The Finnish and European Union authorities do not need a licence to operate earth stations and radars for non-commercial purposes. Authorities must, however, notify the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency of any earth station and radar operations they engage in.
Any earth station and radar operations started before the act entered into force can be continued without a separate licence for the transition period until the end of January 2024. After the transition period, any operators continuing with the activities must have a valid licence.
Transmitting earth stations and radars will also need a radio licence, as before.
Applying for the licence
The licence for establishing and operating an earth station and radar is applied for by submitting a written free-form application. The application must include the necessary report of how the applicant meets the prerequisites for issuing the licence.
Issuing, validity and restrictions of the licence
Traficom will issue the licence if the requirements of issuing the licence specified in section 4 of the act on earth stations and certain radars are met. If the issuing of the permit is likely to affect national security, the licence is issued by the Government. The licence is issued for a fixed period of up to ten years, primarily for the duration of the intended operations.
The licence may not be transferred to any other party than a company operating within the operator’s group. Traficom must be notified of any transfers of the licence or effective control immediately. In addition to this, any changes to effective control towards the operator must be notified to Traficom without delay.
Reporting and notification duties
Operators are obliged to report on their activities and customers to the licencing authority once a year. Traficom will be issuing instructions on how to do this later on.
The operator must notify Traficom without delay if it has any reason to suspect that it has disclosed earth station data for purposes that it suspects of endangering national security or Finland’s ability to comply with its international obligations or of being in contradiction with Finnish foreign and security policy, or if an unauthorised person has gained access to earth station data.
Any significant information security incidents connected to the operation must be reported within 24 hours of detection.
Notifications will be sent to: maa-asemat(at)traficom.fi
Operators are also advised to report to National Cyber Security Centre Finland (NCSC-FI) at the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom, which can provide assistance in resolving a security breach. The notification can be made using the Cyber Security Centre's notification form at https://www.kyberturvallisuuskeskus.fi/en/report (External link) or by email at cert(at)traficom.fi.
You can find the instructions for sending encrypted messages here: https://www.traficom.fi/en/traficom/contact-details/sending-secure-email-traficom (External link)
Fees
The application fee is EUR 2,000. The application fee will not be returned even if the licence application is cancelled or rejected.
The annual supervision fee for earth station and radar operations is EUR 1,200 for commercial operations. The annual supervision fee for research and training operations (non-commercial) is EUR 300.
Enquiries:
If necessary, operators can contact Traficom by email at maa-asemat@traficom.fi
Laki maa-asemista ja eräistä tutkista (96/2023) (External link) (act on earth stations and certain radars, available in Finnish and Swedish)
Traficom’s press release 1 February 2023: Security of space sector earth station and radar operations improved – Operations become subject to licence (External link)