March 11, 2020 Results of Appeal for Opinions on Draft Ministerial Ordinance for Partial Revision of the Regulations for Enforcement of the Radio Act and Report from the Radio Regulatory Council

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) made an appeal for opinions from Saturday, February 1 through Monday, March 2, 2020, on a draft of a ministerial ordinance. This ministerial ordinance partially revises the Regulations for Enforcement of the Radio Act for improvements in technical standards for radio stations to introduce the Inmarsat Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) to aircraft earth stations. As a result, three opinions were submitted, MIC has decided to open the submitted opinions to the public, along with MIC’s views on the opinions.
With consideration of the result of the appeal for opinions, MIC submitted today an inquiry to the Radio Regulatory Council (Chaired by Susumu Yoshida, Specially Appointed Professor, Kyoto University) on the draft ministerial ordinance. MIC received by return a report from the Radio Regulatory Council stating its approval as inquired.

1. Background

Currently, the Multi-functional Transport Satellite (MTSAT) and International Maritime Satellite (INMARSAT) systems as third-generation systems are used for aircraft earth stations that perform communications related to the safe operation and normal operation of aircraft.
The use of the Inmarsat BGAN (Swift Broadband) system, the Inmarsat fourth-generation system (currently available only for mobile earth stations in Japan) was approved by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in 2017 and has been used as the Inmarsat SwiftBroadband-Safety (SB-S) has been already used overseas.
Recently, domestic air carriers have requested the use of the system for air traffic control. Therefore, MIC has made an appeal for opinions from February 1 through March 2, 2020, on a draft of a ministerial ordinance that partially revises the Regulations for Enforcement of the Radio Act for the institutional development of relevant regulations.

2. Report from Radio Regulatory Council

With consideration of the results of the appeal for opinions, MIC submitted today an inquiry to the Radio Regulatory Council (Chaired by Susumu Yoshida, Specially Appointed Professor, Kyoto University) on the draft ministerial ordinance in accordance with the Broadcast Act. MIC received by return a report from the Radio Regulatory Council stating its approval as inquired.

3. Future plans

In response to the results of the appeal for opinions and the report from the Radio Regulatory Council, MIC will make relevant institutional development promptly.

4. Method for obtaining references

MIC will post references on the press release mage of MIC’s official website (https://www.soumu.go.jp ) after the completion of the press conference of the Chair of the Radio Regulatory Council today (Wednesday, March 11). MIC will also make them available for viewing and obtaining copies at the MIC’s Fixed and Satellite Radio Communications Division, Telecommunications Bureau.