ANFR notifies the ITU of the bringing into use of IRIS² Frequencies

22 April 2026

At the request of the European Commission, ANFR, acting on behalf of the Member States of the European Union (EU), notified the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on January 19 of the bringing into use of the priority French frequency assignments “FMS-LEO,” which were made available to the European Union in July 2024 for the European sovereign constellation project IRIS² (Ka bands: 20.2–21.2 GHz and 30–31 GHz).

In his speech on February 15, 2022, to the ministers responsible for space from EU Member States, the President of the Republic stated: “France, I say this very clearly, will be part of this revolution. First, by making available to the Union the valuable asset represented by the priority frequency assignments it holds.”

Subsequently, ANFR was chosen by the EU Member States to chair the group responsible for managing the constellation’s frequencies and to represent them at the ITU, alongside Germany. A licensing agreement was concluded between France and the European Commission in the summer of 2024 to ensure that IRIS² satellites will operate exclusively in the Ka frequency bands for governmental services and to grant usage rights to the space program led by the European Commission.

The bringing into use, made by ANFR, is based on a satellite from the Eutelsat/OneWeb group (SL0621 – ID: 2023-004Y). This satellite operated, for the required regulatory period of 90 days, in one of the orbital positions declared for the IRIS² constellation, in compliance with the ITU Radio Regulations.

This operation secures the authorization to use the Ka band, a key resource for the governmental services of the European sovereign constellation. It represents a significant milestone in the development of IRIS².