Image: SpaceX
The Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to move ahead with new satellite-to-phone rules that would open 482 MHz more spectrum to the service, a change that could help SpaceX grow Starlink Mobile.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr called the proposal the agency’s most comprehensive step yet to modernize its direct-to-device rules, tying it to the White House’s push for the US to lead in next-generation connectivity. The vote came days after AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile lobbied the FCC to keep two key 5G bands out of the plan.
Direct-to-device, or D2D, is the technology that lets an ordinary phone connect straight to a satellite when it’s out of range of cell towers. The FCC first set rules for it in 2024, under a framework it calls Supplemental Coverage from Space, which today covers five bands.
The proposal would grow that list from five bands to 13. It would also drop the requirement that a satellite company lease spectrum from every carrier holding the same airwaves across an area as large as the continental US. Instead, an operator could certify that it has coexistence agreements with those carriers, or that it holds the ground license itself, and it could pick a license area that covers only the places it actually serves.
That second path matters for SpaceX, which has been buying its own spectrum all month. The FCC cleared SpaceX’s purchase of unused licenses from Tristar last week, after approving up to 15,000 next-generation direct-to-cell satellites, and SpaceX is reportedly hunting for 80,000 cell sites to back Starlink Mobile on the ground.
The carriers, through their trade group CTIA, had asked the FCC to strip the 2.5 GHz and 3.45 GHz bands from the plan, arguing satellite signals would interfere with service for hundreds of millions of 5G users. Those two bands make up 290 MHz of the 482 MHz on the table.
Thursday’s vote isn’t the final word. It opens the proposal to public comment, so SpaceX, the carriers and others can weigh in before the FCC holds another vote to adopt final rules. The agency’s announcement doesn’t say whether the 2.5 GHz and 3.45 GHz bands survived in the version commissioners approved, and it hasn’t set a date for that final vote. SpaceX hasn’t commented on the vote.
Should satellite companies be able to use carrier airwaves without signing a lease with AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile first?
