AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile Lobby FCC as Starlink Mobile Closes In

Credit: SpaceX

AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile are pressing the Federal Communications Commission to keep two key 5G bands out of its plan to expand satellite-to-phone service, according to a letter filed with the FCC by their trade group, CTIA. The push lands as SpaceX turns Starlink Mobile into a would-be fourth US carrier and hunts for access to 80,000 cell sites to back up its satellites on the ground.

According to the filing, CTIA and the three carriers met on October 20 with the offices of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioners Anna Gomez and Olivia Trusty. Their main ask was to strip the 2.5 GHz and 3.45 GHz bands from the FCC’s draft Supplemental Coverage from Space rules, which were released October 8 and are set for a vote at the agency’s October 29 open meeting. The FCC’s proposal would add 482 MHz of carrier spectrum to the satellite-to-phone framework, growing it from five bands to 13.

CTIA says the two bands use a time-division setup, where phones send and receive on the same frequencies in a tightly timed sequence, and argues that adding satellite signals on top raises interference problems the FCC already took into account when it wrote the rules in 2024. The group says more than 300 million users rely on these bands, and they shouldn’t see their service hurt by what it calls “technically unworkable” changes.

Beyond the two bands, the carriers want satellite operators judged by the same yardstick they are. CTIA asked the FCC to apply the same performance metrics no matter whether a licensee’s network is on towers or in orbit, and to adopt a “same customer, same rules” approach to consumer protection, public safety and security obligations. It also wants more study before the FCC sets a firm limit on how strong satellite signals can be at the edge of a license area.

Leasing is the other fight in the letter, since under today’s rules a satellite company can only offer service on carrier spectrum through a deal with the carrier, which is how T-Mobile’s T-Satellite service with Starlink works. The FCC’s draft would swap that lease requirement for coexistence agreements, and the carriers argue licenses should stay exclusive, with carriers keeping “meaningful consent” and control over any satellite use of their airwaves. T-Mobile filed its own letter on the drafts after separate October 19 meetings with FCC offices.

The letter doesn’t name SpaceX or Starlink, and it says CTIA supports satellite service as a way to extend coverage in hard-to-reach and disaster-hit areas. Still, the rules would open more carrier spectrum to satellite-to-phone service at a time when SpaceX is building its own carrier. The FCC approved 15,000 next-generation direct-to-cell satellites for Starlink Mobile earlier this month, and this week it handed SpaceX more spectrum by clearing its purchase of three unused licenses from Tristar.

SpaceX hasn’t publicly responded to the CTIA filing. The FCC’s drafts can still change before commissioners vote next week.

Should carriers get the final say over how satellites use their 5G spectrum, or is it time for the FCC to open those bands up?