SpaceX: FCC Should Revise Spectrum Sharing Between Satellite Types

WASHINGTON, August 13, 2024 – Satellite provider SpaceX on Friday filed a petition asking the Federal Communications Commission to revise rules to allow a more efficient use of shared spectrum resources among U.S.-licensed satellite systems.

The International Telecommunications Union, a United Nation specialized agency, has implemented regulations for spectrum sharing that, according to SpaceX, have imposed strict limits on the interference from non-geostationary systems into geostationary satellites. 

Over the last year, the FCC has made plain that the current rules need to be updated. The agency said at the 2023 World Radio Conference that “there is a need to ensure efficient use of co-frequency spectrum resources” for these systems, noting that the limits were “derived taking into account only a short-term protection criterion.”

SpaceX claimed that existing sharing rules “unnecessarily restrict the operation of non-geostationary satellite systems” by requiring these systems to “artificially limit their radiofrequency power … needlessly reducing signal quality on the ground and making it more difficult to ensure a consistently high level of service.”

SpaceX, a privately held rocket company controlled by Elon Musk, has deployed more than 6,000 low earth orbit satellites into space to provide high-speed internet service globally. With 5,200 operational satellites, Starklink provides service to 2.7 million subscribers in 100 countries, the company said in June.

SpaceX’s pioneering in space transportation led to the creation of Starlink's internet service, which has driven the creation of service from low earth orbit satellites. LEO internet services are far faster than internet service from conventional geostationary satellites.

In the petition, Starlink urged the FCC to modernize its domestic GSO-NGSO sharing framework to relieve regulatory constraints, claiming it would “free innovators to build next-generation satellite systems based on sound engineering principles rather than anachronistic rules.”

Waiting for the ITU to update its rules was not an option in light of U.S. consumer demand for broadband connectivity through satellite now, said SpaceX. It reiterated FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s recent statement that leadership in the new space era required the agency to “eliminate old rules that no longer meet the moment.”

Gweynne Shotwell, SpaceX president and chief operating officer, said that the company has been talking with the U.S. Commerce Department about including its services in the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program at an August conference.