On 13 May 2026 Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada published Canada Gazette notice SMSE-008-26, a preliminary consultation on Mobile Satellite Service developments and the use of L and S band spectrum. The document is preliminary in the technical sense: ISED is gathering input on questions, not putting specific proposals out for comment. The substantive proposals will come in a later document. Comments on the preliminary consultation are due to ISED by 29 June 2026.
What makes this consultation operationally relevant before any proposal exists is the licensing posture ISED announced alongside it: while the L- and S-band MSS framework is being reviewed, ISED will not issue new commercial MSS licences in the affected bands. Existing licensees may still file modifications, which ISED will consider case by case. For an OEM or operator that was planning a Canadian-market MSS deployment built on a brand-new authorization, the practical effect is a hold until the framework is rewritten.
Which bands are under review?
The consultation covers the canonical MSS allocations in the L and S bands. The L-band ranges are 1525-1559 MHz (space-to-Earth), 1610-1626.5 MHz (Earth-to-space, the Big LEO uplink), and 1626.5-1660.5 MHz (Earth-to-space). The S-band ranges are 2000-2020 MHz and 2020-2025 MHz (mobile satellite, paired with terrestrial IMT in some footnotes), 2180-2200 MHz (space-to-Earth), and 2483.5-2500 MHz (the lower S-band MSS range that overlaps with the upper edge of the 2.4 GHz unlicensed band and the BRS allocation at 2500-2690 MHz).
These ranges are exactly the allocations that have absorbed the recent Direct-to-Device and supplemental-coverage-from-space activity that ISED has been handling case by case under SMSE-001-25 and SMCS. The L-band Big LEO segment is also where the Iridium and Globalstar generations of MSS operators have historically operated, and the S-band 2 GHz mobile satellite footprint is the home of the Inmarsat European S-band MSS allocation and the 2 GHz MSS allocation that has supported satellite-to-handset proposals in the U.S.
What is ISED actually asking?
Four threads run through the consultation. None are framed as proposals yet, but each will shape what the substantive consultation later in 2026 or 2027 looks like.
- Canadian coverage requirements for MSS — what minimum service obligations should attach to an MSS licence in Canada, particularly given the country's geography and the policy focus on closing rural and remote coverage gaps.
- Spectrum exclusivity versus sharing arrangements — whether the affected L- and S-band ranges should continue to be licensed exclusively or whether sharing frameworks (including with terrestrial services and with other MSS operators) should be introduced.
- Ancillary Terrestrial Component conditions of licence — under what terms an MSS licensee can operate complementary terrestrial network elements in the same band, and how the historic ATC conditions translate to modern D2D and supplemental-coverage architectures.
- Band segmentation by use case — whether different portions of the L and S bands should be segmented for IoT, Direct-to-Device, or traditional voice/data MSS, rather than being licensed as flexible blocks.
How does this fit with parallel U.S. and international activity?
ISED explicitly references concurrent activity at the FCC, Ofcom in the United Kingdom, and ACMA in Australia. The most pointed U.S. reference in the consultation is the FCC's 23 April 2026 decision reaffirming licensees' exclusive rights to use certain MSS bands while rejecting pending requests for new authorizations or U.S. market access in bands already licensed to another entity. The FCC's stated rationale was to support a stable regulatory environment for existing D2D licensees; ISED notes the move without endorsing it, and the question of whether Canada should follow a similar exclusivity-protective path or open up sharing is one of the live threads in SMSE-008-26.
The consultation deliberately does not single out particular operators by name — Inmarsat, Iridium, Globalstar, Lynk, AST SpaceMobile, Starlink, and the various 2 GHz MSS licensees all sit in scope of the question set without being identified in the consultation text. That neutrality is itself a signal: the framework rewrite is intended to be operator-agnostic, with the moratorium as the holding action that keeps the queue clean until the rewrite is done.
What is the operational impact for a CTS client?
If a manufacturer or operator was planning to file for a new commercial MSS authorization in any of the L- or S-band ranges identified above, the application path is closed for the duration of the consultation. That is the moratorium. There is no published end date for the moratorium itself — it ends when the resulting framework decision is published, which will follow a substantive consultation, which has not yet been issued. A realistic planning horizon is 12 to 24 months from May 2026, anchored on the cadence of comparable ISED spectrum-licensing rewrites.
What is still possible: modifications to existing licences (case-by-case review), filings for non-commercial authorizations not affected by the moratorium, and supplemental-coverage-from-space activity in commercial mobile bands under the existing SMCS framework (a separate ISED decision document, SMSE-001-25). What is closed: a brand-new commercial MSS Canadian authorization in the listed L and S band ranges, until ISED rewrites the framework.
How do parties file comments?
Comments are submitted by email to satelliteplanning-planificationsatellite@ised-isde.gc.ca in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF, citing Canada Gazette Part I, the publication date (13 May 2026), the title (Preliminary Consultation on Mobile Satellite Service Developments and the Use of L and S Band Spectrum), and the notice reference number (SMSE-008-26). Respondents are asked to identify the paragraph or proposal number they are responding to and to provide rationale for each response. The comment deadline is 29 June 2026; ISED will publish all comments received on its Spectrum management and telecommunications website soon after the close of the comment period.