Abstract: A communication signal can be routed from any location in a spot beam satellite system to any other location within the spot beam system by simply choosing the proper carrier frequency for the uplink to the satellite. The spot beams are fully interconnected without any need for active switching within the satellite. An uplink signal received by one or more satellites in a particular orbit location may be routed, depending on its frequency, to any downlink spot beam. A network control center located on the ground in one of the spot beam coverage areas receives signalling requests from all the spot beam coverage areas and assigns frequencies so that the desired routing can be established. All of this is accomplished without any signal demodulation or active switching of circuit paths in the satellite.