Parts of the equator linking communications satellites with western Europe are saturated with satellite traffic. For the region of the equator serving North America, there is no longer enough space between satellites to allow them to transmit and receive C band signals without interfering with the next satellite's signal.The USA Federal Communications Commission has ruled that domestic satellites can come as close together as 3,200 kilometres at geosynchronous altitude, halving the separations to which they were restricted a few years ago. This means that more satellites can crowd into the same space.