Having failed to attract sufficient votes to confirm her October 2021 nomination as an FCC Commissioner, US President Biden has renominated Gigi Sohn to fill the vacant fifth commissioner seat. The new appointment will be for a five year term retroactively starting on July 1st, 2021, filling the seat previously held by former FCC Chairman […]

SpaceX successfully launched its latest batch of Starlinks on December 28th, but there’s some confusion as to the precise make-up of the satellites carried into orbit. Officially, SpaceX talks about the mission being Starlink Group 5-1, and there’s plenty of talk about the satellites being the first flight dedicated to Starlink’s ‘second generation’ versions. The […]

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has launched a proceeding to streamline its review processes for satellite applications. As the space economy booms, the agency will look further to update its rules and processes to ensure that its critical review responsibilities are met as efficiently and effectively as possible. In recent years, the Commission says […]

SpaceX placed 54 of its Starlink broadband satellites into orbit on December 17th, and in the process extended its reliability record. The record-breaking flight used the Falcon 9’s booster for the 15th time, the most-ever. The cost-saving benefits of re-using the Falcon 9’s booster is significant. SpaceX charges around $65 million (€61.2m) for a commercial […]

A US bipartisan House Energy & Commerce Committee has introduced potential legislation to update the FCC’s current satellite licensing rules. One aspect will be the prohibition of Chinese businesses, although it is not yet completely clear whether the legislation will cover satellites where ownership – as distinct to components – includes Chinese companies. This could […]

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved SpaceX’s application to deploy up to 7,500 satellites but put other decisions on hold. SpaceX had sought approval to operate a network of 29,988 non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellites. “Specifically, we grant SpaceX authority to construct, deploy, and operate up to 7,500 satellites operating at altitudes of 525, […]

The US Federal Communications Commission has unveiled new rules that will for the first time require broadband providers to display easy-to-understand labels to allow consumers to comparison shop for broadband services. The Report and Order approved by the Commission creates rules that require broadband providers to display, at the point of sale, labels that show […]

Plume, the personalised communications services pioneer, has been selected by the FCC as one of the first cohort of industry players to proceed with the testing of automated frequency control (AFC) systems in the US in the 6 GHz frequency band. Globally, Plume’s cloud-based control system serves more than 43 million homes and already supports […]

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has unveiled a plan to reorganise the agency better to support the needs of the growing satellite industry, promote long-term technical capacity at the FCC, and navigate 21st global communications policy. Under this plan, Chairwoman Rosenworcel will work to reorganise the FCC’s International Bureau into a new Space Bureau […]

SES is mounting an appeal in its battle to win 50 per cent of the FCC’s C-band incentive payments. On September 30th the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, disallowed the SES motion which – in effect – meant that Intelsat could hold onto its FCC payments. SES Americom, the […]