---
kind: "section"
citation: "47 U.S.C. § 763c"
title: "47"
title_heading: "Telecommunications"
number: "763c"
heading: "Space segment capacity of the GMDSS"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/47/763c"
units:
  - "Chapter 6 — Communications Satellite System"
  - "Subchapter VI — Communications Competition and Privatization"
  - "Part B — Federal Communications Commission Licensing Criteria: Privatization Criteria"
---

# §763c. Space segment capacity of the GMDSS


The United States shall preserve the [space segment](/usc/47/757.md?p=3) capacity of the [GMDSS](/usc/47/769.md?p=a-20). This section is not intended to alter the status that the [GMDSS](/usc/47/769.md?p=a-20) would otherwise have under United States laws and regulations of the [International Telecommunication Union](/usc/47/769.md?p=a-6) with respect to spectrum, [orbital locations](/usc/47/769.md?p=a-9), or other operational parameters, or to be a barrier to competition for the provision of [GMDSS](/usc/47/769.md?p=a-20) services.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 87–624, title VI, § 624, as added Pub. L. 106–180, § 3, Mar. 17, 2000, 114 Stat. 54; amended Pub. L. 109–34, § 3, July 12, 2005, 119 Stat. 377.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2005—Pub. L. 109–34 amended section catchline and text generally, substituting provisions relating to space segment capacity of the GMDSS for provisions relating to specific criteria for Inmarsat privatization.