ium having the objective of setting up a global satellite network for fixed telecommunications, These bands are to be used in accordance with a frequency and came into being. By July 1965 the 'Early Bird' satellite, taken over orbital slot allotment plan agreed in 1987. by INTELSAT and later to be renamed INTELSAT I F1, was in ITU Region 2 only (North and South America). In Canada, operation, relaying telephone calls between Europe and North Mexico and USA, the fixed satellite service has higher alloca- America. tion status than any of the other services with which the band is Much has happened since 1965. Satellites provide a major me- shared. (ITU, 1990c.) dium for linking together terrestrial telecommunications networks, Not in ITU Region 2. This band is allocated exclusively for the province by province and country by country, using earth stations at fixed satellite service in many countries in ITU Regions 1 and fixed locations, typically with high gain antennas. INTELSAT has developed very extensively (Hall and Moss, 1978; Sachdev, 1990). d. These bands are allocated exclusively for the fixed satellite and INTERSPUTNIK became a second global system. Several regional mobile satellite services in most countries. systems, such as EUTELSAT, PALAPA and ARABSAT and many national networks are now in operation. These bands are also allocated for terrestrial radio systems except These systems have also become an important medium for the where otherwise indicated, and some bands are also allocated, partly distribution of television programme material, to terrestrial broad- or wholly, for other kinds of space system. casting stations and more recently direct to home. In direct to the There are certain other bands, relatively narrow in bandwidth, also home television these satellites are competing, not only with terre- allocated for the fixed satellite service, in particular around 2.6GHz, strial radio and cable broadcasting but also with newly emerging 3.6GHz and 6.6GHz, and there are wide bands above 30GHz, but high p