FCC Adopts New Satellite Spectrum Sharing Rules

The agency also adopted two items aimed at targeting China.

FCC Adopts New Satellite Spectrum Sharing Rules
Screenshot of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr at the agency's press conference Thursday

WASHINGTON, April 30, 2026 – Federal regulators approved Thursday an order that its chairman said could improve capacity for low-Earth orbit satellite broadband by seven times.

“One way to think about it is where you might have had one connection to a satellite before, you could have connections to seven or more satellites at a time,” Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said at the agency’s meeting Thursday.

The order will allow LEO operators to use higher power in the 10.7-12.7 GigaHertz (GHz), 17.3-18.6 GHz, and 19.7-20.2 GHz, something Elon Musk’s SpaceX has told the agency would dramatically improve the quality of its satellite broadband service.

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