The ama­teur and ama­teur-satel­lite ser­vices are allo­cat­ed rel­a­tive­ly nar­row fre­quen­cy bands locat­ed through­out the spec­trum from 135.7 kHz to 250 GHz. Pro­tect­ing spec­trum access by qual­i­fied oper­a­tors on a non-com­mer­cial basis is the prin­ci­pal mis­sion of the IARU.

The IARU is rec­og­nized as the rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the ama­teur and ama­teur-satel­lite ser­vices by the ITU as well as by the region­al telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions orga­ni­za­tions (RTOs) that play an impor­tant role in the the WRC process. The IARU mem­ber-soci­eties are respon­si­ble for rep­re­sent­ing the IARU to their nation­al telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions admin­is­tra­tions and regulators.