SpaceX gains FCC approval for D2C
November 27, 2024
By Chris Forrester
Direct-to-Smartphone satellite communications have been approved – with some conditions – by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for SpaceX. This permission applies to US consumers using T-Mobile’s services.
The approval was granted on November 26th and covers 7,500 of SpaceX’s Second generation Starlink satellites which will operate at lower orbits (Very Low Earth Orbits, VLEO), some as low as 340 kms, and much lower than the more usual 525-535 kms orbital height.
SpaceX can now start its initial text-based services from the 320 suitable satellites already in orbit provided they do not cause interference to ground-based cellular services. These 320 will provide limited global coverage ahead of the implementation of the full constellation. The service will match 4G technology and SpaceX says voice and data connections will follow.
However, the FCC has “deferred” SpaceX’s application to provide the service for an additional 22,488 satellites as well as SpaceX’s usage of ‘out of band power flux density limits’.
SpaceX already has more than 4,100 first-generation Starlinks in orbit.
The new FCC rules (‘Supplemental Coverage from Space’) and come with tough limitations. Interference with ground-based cellular operations would mean the satellite services must immediately cease operations. The ground operators have primary rights to the frequencies being used, and must remain wholly operational.
“This first-of-its-kind authorisation is an exciting new development for the future of combined satellite and wireless communications,” FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in the FCC statement. “And it won’t be the last. Thanks to the bipartisan framework we adopted earlier this year, the FCC is actively promoting competition in the space economy by supporting more partnerships between terrestrial mobile carriers and satellite operators to deliver on a Single Network Future that will put an end to mobile dead zones.”