SpaceX has complained about a proposal from Charlie Ergen’s Dish Network pay-TV operation and its filing with the FCC for new 5G terrestrial services which would operate in the 12 GHz band – where SpaceX’s Starlink broadband system operates.

SpaceX said that if permission were granted for the Dish scheme then “most Americans” would not be able to access Starlink’s broadband system.

SpaceX said it had carried out tests in Las Vegas and which showed there was “harmful interference” more than 77 per cent of the time, and some users would be subjected to total outages from Starlink for 74 per cent of the time.

David Goldman, SpaceX senior director of satellite policy, said in his filing to the FCC: “This analysis verifies what should be intuitive – that a high-power terrestrial network would blow out anyone using the high-sensitivity equipment satellite consumers must use to receive signals that comply with Commission and international power restrictions on satellite downlink transmissions. As a result, vastly fewer Americans could be connected using next-generation satellite services, and those that remain would experience degraded service and regular network outages.”

Dish Network’s Meredith Diers says Dish’s engineers are evaluating the SpaceX claims.

However, Dish Network is pushing ahead with its 5G expansion plans and which now serve more than 120 cities where service is available. As at June 14th, Dish claims to reach more than 20 per cent of the US population.

Other posts by Chris Forrester:

1. Virgin Galactic in stock split
2. Thuraya-3 suffers major problem
3. AST SpaceMobile hit by Class Action
4. Optimism under threat at SES
5. Rivada visits Terran Orbital’s manufacturing HQ
6. Avanti wins spectrum debt obligation case
7. SpaceX breaks records for re-use launchers
8. IRIS2 already in trouble?
9. Intelsat contemplates next steps

Categories: 5G, Blogs, Broadband, Inside Satellite, Satellite

Tags: 5G, dish, Dish Network, spacex, usa