(Credit: Starlink.com)
The Federal Communications Commission is gearing up to potentially relax radio emission restrictions for Starlink. SpaceX has been lobbying to revise the rules, calling them outdated and a detriment to its satellite internet service.
On Friday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr previewed the agency's agenda for this month, saying one item will seek “to unleash even faster and more robust broadband services from space.”
“Specifically, we will look to update our rules in the frequencies commonly known by satellite aficionados (read: nerds) as the Ka- and Ku- bands,” he said. Although Starlink wasn’t named, the satellite internet service uses both Ka- and Ku- radio bands to transmit data.
Carr described the radio bands as “workhorse satellite frequencies that support the next generation of mega constellations in low-Earth orbit.”
“Unfortunately, new innovations have been held back by FCC technical rules that we adopted thirty years ago,” he added. “Power limits developed in the 1990s to protect geostationary satellite systems from interference continue to restrict the performance of non-geostationary satellite systems, even though advancements in sharing technology arguably make the rules of the past no longer necessary.”
In response, Carr said the FCC will vote to “take a fresh look at the decades-old spectrum sharing regime between geostationary and non-geostationary satellite systems in these spectrum bands.”
Previous FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel also called for updating older satellite rules to promote competition. But Carr’s statement appears to be a win for SpaceX as well. The company has been urging the FCC to update a specific rule concerning the “equivalent power flux density limits,” which regulate the amount of energy a satellite can transmit to and from ground equipment.
In August, SpaceX asked the commission to change the "outdated" rules. The 25-year-old regulations constrain next-generation satellite services and protect radio spectrum access for older, geostationary satellites at the expense of low-Earth orbiting systems like Starlink, the company alleged.
"The revisions would increase satellite coverage and service quality, ensuring that all Americans can enjoy high-speed, low-latency broadband," SpaceX said at the time. "They would enhance consumer choice by allowing next-generation satellite operators to provide an even more competitive option in the market."
Last month, the company also sent another letter to the FCC, which asked for a waiver to the power limit rules as part of the company’s proposal to upgrade the Starlink constellation with gigabit speeds. The FCC originally created the rules to protect satellite providers from interference. But SpaceX says it can operate “in excess of the current EPFD downlink limits while still protecting GSO (geostationary orbit) operations in the United States from harmful interference."
Still, SpaceX's letter notes that “legacy GSO operators Dish/EchoStar, Viasat, and Eutelsat/OneWeb oppose SpaceX’s request to waive outdated EPFD downlink limits for its operations in the United States.” So the FCC’s push to revise the rules will likely face opposition from SpaceX’s rivals.
Last month, SpaceX also received a waiver from the FCC related to radio emission rules, but for the company's cellular Starlink service for phones.