Many are no longer operative but the Space junk yard comprises a complex obstacle course through which new, orbital communications satellites must navigate. On average, each year ten more ‘comsats’ join the parade through Space adding to the complications, for those planning orbits for those still to be launched must not only avoid collisions but ensure that the wavelengths on which they operate will not interfere with others.

   In fact, finding an officially approved course through space for a communications satellite and issuing the relevant licence can take anything from three to seven years, according to Paul Canessa who heads Gibraltar’s Regulatory Authority (GRA). Thanks to Gibraltar’s geographic location, one of Canessa’s several roles as the Rock’s official Regulator is to license any British satellite that is launched… and because the task is so potentially complex and prolonged, two members of Canessa’s staff — one here in Gibraltar and another in the UK — work full time to sort out the trajectories, orbits and wavelengths before approval is given.

   Canessa’s own regulatory orbit covers almost every aspect of communication — ship’s wireless, telephony, Cyberspace, e-mail and a raft of other disciplines fall under his guardianship. And though recently the regulation of Gibraltar’s gaming companies and data protection were added to his responsibilities, the bulk of his other regulatory duties are, literally, of his own making.

   When Canessa accepted the post as the first head of the GRA, he had to start from scratch… putting together a swathe of European Union rules and directives not only to establish the regulations which the GRA would apply but setting up the legal and administrative structures which would allow it to do so.

   “There was nothing in our existing legislation and — apart from the EU Directives which, anyway, had not been transposed — it was uncharted territory,” he explains. Working with Tony Provasoli of Hassans and the Government’s legal team, Canessa put together a legislative package establishing a regulatory authority that has become a benchmark for other small jurisdictions.

   As a result, he and Provasoli have advised territories in the Caribbean in setting up their own telecoms legislation and Canessa had a brief spell during which he was seconded to the United Nations to provide similar guidance.

   “Our original work was a massive learning curve and it has taken quite a while to put all the legislation in place — some of it completed and approved only a few years ago in 2002,” he admits.

   And it is all a far cry — and an unexpected career path from that Canessa chose on leaving school when as an enthusiastic amateur photographer he jumped at the chance to join GBC as a television cameraman . When he has time — “which is far too seldom nowadays” — Canessa still enjoys the hobby that took him into television and radio journalism 33 years ago. And though it is 13 years since he quit the newsroom to set up the fledgling GRA he sometimes still misses the “buzz and excitement” of that first career.

   “Of course there’s still a ‘buzz’ but of a different sort in my regulatory work,” he says, soft-spoken and with a gentle smile that is something of a Canessa trademark.

   By chance, George Valarino current head of GBC and for many year’s Canessa’s superior was at the next table when we lunched recently.

   Valarino — another schoolboy photography enthusiast whose hobby took him into broadcasting — reminds Canessa that even before their GBC association and friendship began the two had played football together at Eastern Beach. There are smiles all round in the warmth of collective nostalgia…

   Though he started off as a TV cameraman, Canessa’s interest in topical events and the broad general knowledge which he continues to expand though travel and extensive reading, soon saw him promoted to production and reporting. By 1980 he had become news editor and head of news services for both radio and TV.

   “I was very lucky in that I covered some of the major news stories at a time when Gibraltar was often in the spotlight,” he recalls. “As head of news at the time of the IRA shootings I worked closely with many of the international television networks, and there was a string of other important and significant new stories and events where I was on the spot.”

   And though the actual judgment took only a morning, and provided several minutes of air time, the 1991 airport case heard by the European Court of Justice was memorable for its “dignity and aura of gravitas”.

   “One of the very early news event that I covered as a cameraman was the crash of an RAF Hunter jet aircraft at the end of the runway,” Canessa remembers. “The authorities let me get close up to film the wreck within minutes of the area being declared safe… Less dramatic, but considerably more tricky were aspects of covering elections when one was put under a lot of pressure by various representatives of the parties and had to be careful to present material that was both balanced and objective. One learnt to be very even-handed.”

   It is a well-learned skill that also serves Canessa well in his role as Regulator.

   In the sphere of news coverage, one of Canessa’s few regrets is that he missed the opening of the frontier and the first border crossings to and from Spain. “I was in Geneva at the time covering the ministerial talks attended by Britain’s Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe, so I missed an event of particular significance in our history,” he recalls.

   Was it these working trips to other parts of Europe that gave him a taste for foreign travel? I wondered. Canessa doesn’t think so, and admits that he dreamed of visiting far-off places as a schoolboy.

   “Obviously, I had been to Britain and other European centres for work — and once or twice on holidays — but I suppose my first adventurous trip was to Russia and Moscow in 1991 while I was still with GBC. “Since then Canessa has visited places as far a-field as Borneo and Australia — with plans to visit Argentina next year. And, since becoming Regulator, there have been trips to the British Virgin Islands and Anguilla in a professional capacity.

   An Italian holiday — though to a less exotic location — is remembered with amusement. Canessa and the friends with whom he was to travel spent several months learning Italian (“Though not very successfully”) to enhance their enjoyment of the break. “But, in the event, we hardly spoke any Italian at all — and what little we did was practising among ourselves… almost everyone we met spoke English!”

   In 1993, as the Bossano government faced a growing weight of EU directives relating to communications, Canessa was asked if he would leave his job of two decades in broadcasting to take charge of the non-existent GRA.

   “It meant a total career switch and also represented a massive challenge which was quite frightening in a way”, Canessa reflects. “But I felt that I was ready for a change and at least I knew something about broadcasting and radio… and, I suppose, also had a reasonable understanding of telecommunications generally.”

   However it was a case of starting from scratch, there were numerous EU Directives that had to be considered and built into a workable model for a jurisdiction the size of Gibraltar. “But while we worked on legislation that would implement those directives they were amended… and new ones kept coming in,” he recalls with a mock shudder.

   “We asked for derogation which some of the other small networks had been granted, but we were told that because we fell under the UK umbrella this would not be possible… There were many, many hurdles.”

   Working closely with Provasoli and law advisers at the DTI, the first of Gibraltar’s telecoms laws was drawn up. It embraced “eight or ten of the EU directives.” “Fortunately, I now have a great team many of whom are specialists in their own particular areas… and that eases the regulator’s burden...”

   Later came the Outer Space Act and the extension through Gibraltar of all proposed British commercial satellites. It led to link’s with Britain’s National Space Centre and also the GRA’s in-house development of its own software.

   And Canessa signs the licence for every UK satellite which is launched.