Reverse SpaceX Direct-to-Cell Power Level Waiver: EchoStar

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2025 – EchoStar is asking the Federal Communications Commission to rescind a waiver allowing SpaceX to use higher power as part of its direct-to-cell partnership with T-Mobile.

“Instead of finding that harmful interference would be unlikely at the higher power levels proposed by SpaceX, the Bureau failed to make any decision about the likelihood of harmful interference, granted the waiver, and put the burden on EchoStar to protect itself,” the company wrote on Monday, April 7.

In a bid to prevent interference, the FCC set certain power limits when it set up its framework for allowing supplemental coverage from space (SCS) deals, in which satellite operators lease spectrum from mobile carriers to provide service outside the reach of the terrestrial network.

On March 7, the agency granted a request for SpaceX to use higher power in relation to the T-Mobile deal, over the objections of both EchoStar and the other major 5G carriers.

EchoStar argued the agency didn’t have a good reason to deviate from the limits it had already found were necessary to prevent interference. 

“The Bureau never endorsed the conclusions of [SpaceX and T-Mobile’s] analysis, nor did it reject the technical claims of AT&T, Verizon, and EchoStar raised in the records for both the SCS Order and the Waiver Order,” the company wrote.

When the agency granted the waiver, it specified that “If SpaceX’s operations under this waiver cause harmful interference, SpaceX must address the situation in a timely manner, or else cease operations under the waiver until the situation is addressed.”

That didn’t satisfy EchoStar, which argued it wasn’t enough to prevent interference from happening in the first place.

“SCS service is at a nascent stage of development, and we find that strict application of the rule risks hindering the widespread deployment of this particular SCS network,” the agency wrote when granting the waiver. “This approach provides an opportunity for SCS service to develop while protecting terrestrial wireless services in their current and future configurations.”

Elon Musk, the billionaire and close adviser to President Donald Trump, owns SpaceX.

T-Mobile wants older phones on the service

At the same time, the mobile carrier is asking the FCC to waive a separate rule to allow more devices to use the service. When the agency greenlit the deal, it decided that devices had to be certified for both terrestrial and satellite services, ultimately meaning manufacturers would have to go back and get another certification in order for existing phones – those authorized before June 29, 2024 – to use the service.

T-Mobile asked the agency on Tuesday, April 8 to waive that rule, allowing “legacy devices” to use the direct-to-cell service, something T-Mobile can effectuate, without a manufacturer having to go back and certify each one.

“Compatible devices to which the waiver granted in the SCS Report and Order apply are already in the marketplace and being used by millions of American consumers,” the company wrote. “Yet, pursuant to the rules, consumers cannot take advantage of the new potentially life-saving service unless the manufacturer of the equipment they already own and operate seeks modified equipment authorization.”