On October 6, 2026, satellite manufacturer and operator Open Cosmos requested a one-year extension from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Radio Regulations Board after missing 50% fleet deployment deadlines across two key spectrum filings.
The filings, covering a proposed constellation of 576 satellites at an altitude of 1,050 kilometers, were originally filed by Rivada Space Networks before being integrated into Open Cosmos’s network plans.
Regulatory Context and ConnectedCosmos Architecture
Under ITU milestone regulations, satellite operators must deploy 50% of their registered constellation capacity within specified timeframes to maintain regulatory priority over allocated radio frequency spectrum. Open Cosmos failed to hit the 50% threshold by the June and September 2026 milestone deadlines established across its two 1,050-kilometer filings.
The spectrum assets underpin Open Cosmos’s sovereign broadband network architecture, which includes the ConnectedCosmos constellation—a planned multi-layer low Earth orbit network engineered to provide dual-use Ka-band broadband and secure data transport for defense, civil, and commercial clients.
Hardware Inventory and Production Scale
Despite the launch delays, Open Cosmos has scaled spacecraft manufacturing at its facilities. More than 50 satellites are fully built and in storage awaiting available launch vehicle manifests and integration slots.
The company’s modular satellite platform integrates software-defined communications payloads, onboard compute processing, and optical inter-satellite links designed to support high-density LEO architectures.
Regulatory Timeline and Orbital Deployment Schedule
The ITU Radio Regulations Board is scheduled to review Open Cosmos’s formal one-year extension request during its upcoming November 2026 meeting.
If the board grants the extension, Open Cosmos plans to initiate orbital deployment with the first six satellites scheduled for launch before the end of 2026. Under the revised operational roadmap, the company targets placing 96 satellites into orbit by late 2028 to satisfy adjusted milestone requirements and maintain spectrum authorization.
