Deep Dive: Satellite-to-Phone Operators Will Still Need Carriers, But on Cheaper Terms
The FCC's draft keeps carrier consent for satellite-to-phone but replaces leases with coexistence deals. What it means for SpaceX, AST and the carriers.
Deep Dive: Satellite-to-Phone Operators Will Still Need Carriers, But on Cheaper Terms
On Thursday the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) votes on a draft rulemaking that proposes opening 482 MHz more of carrier spectrum to satellite-to-phone service and replacing the lease a satellite operator needs today with a lighter coexistence agreement. A week earlier its Wireless Telecommunications Bureau let SpaceX buy spectrum outright and meet satellite milestones instead of building towers.
482 MHz
More spectrum proposed for satellite-to-phone service, in eight additional bands
290 MHz
Of that in the 2.5 GHz and 3.45 GHz bands the carriers want removed
5 → 13
Bands eligible for Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS)
2, 4, 9
Years: the milestone clock in the SpaceX and Tristar order, and in the draft
The FCC’s 29 October Open Meeting carries a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on direct-to-device (D2D) service in licensed spectrum, General (GN) Dockets 26-281 and 23-65, and a companion Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) proposing to auction 25 MHz at 1675–1695 MHz and 2020–2025 MHz, Wireless Telecommunications (WT) Docket 26-284. In the last meetings before the vote, CTIA, the wireless industry association, met the offices of all three commissioners to push back, T-Mobile’s chief executive met Chairman Brendan Carr, and SpaceX and Amazon Leo asked for changes of their own. The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, meanwhile, approved SpaceX’s purchase of Tristar’s three unpaired Advanced Wireless Services (AWS-3) licenses on 21 October, in delegated-authority order DA 26-1129.
Does the FCC’s direct-to-device proposal remove the carrier from satellite-to-phone deals?
No. The draft keeps the carrier’s consent but changes its form and its price. The 2024 rules require a satellite operator offering SCS to lease spectrum from the terrestrial licensees holding every co-channel license across a geographically independent area such as the contiguous United States. The draft would replace that with a certification of coexistence agreements covering only the area the operator chooses to serve, would not require the agreements’ terms to be filed, and would make non-exclusivity the stated default unless the parties bargain for exclusivity. It also adds a second route that needs no carrier at all: an operator that holds the terrestrial license itself, as SpaceX now does with the Tristar spectrum, certifies that instead.
The six sections of this Deep Dive are for paid subscribers.
Paid subscribers read sections 01 to 06, with the band table, the milestone schedule and what to watch after Thursday’s vote. If you already subscribe, sign in and the page opens where you are.
- 01What the 2024 rules required
- 02What the draft changes, and what it keeps
- 03Where the 482 MHz is
- 04The other route: own the license
- 05Milestones in place of towers
- 06Where I come out
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