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The Federal Communications Commission is signaling its support for SpaceX to deliver gigabit satellite internet through Starlink, calling the move good for broadband competition, including ground-based fiber providers.
FCC Space Bureau Chief Jay Schwarz mentioned the support today in a speech at the New America think tank's LEO Satellite Policy Symposium. He didn’t name SpaceX specifically, but he brought up two low-Earth orbit satellite internet systems—a likely reference to Starlink and its competitor, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, now rebranded as Amazon Leo.
"In fact, both of the major LEO constellations that are delivering consumer broadband or anticipate doing so, they expect that if they can operate at higher power levels, they will be able to deliver fiber-like service, perhaps in excess of 1 gigabit per second,” he said.
As a result, Schwarz said it was crucial for the FCC to reform decades-old technical restrictions on radio emissions for satellite systems, also known as the “equivalent power flux density” rules. Although the rules were designed to curb radio interference, the commission voted in April to update the restrictions, citing them as an outdated barrier to unleashing faster satellite internet.
Schwarz also highlighted the need to update the rules by tackling technical inefficiencies at the FCC. "There seems to be real benefit, both in terms of broadband quality, delivered to rural America, and frankly, competition, right? Between LEO systems and against terrestrial systems. Lots of benefits we would be passing up if we didn’t deal with these efficiencies.”
The statement suggests the FCC views Starlink as a direct competitor to traditional ISPs when satellite internet has long been viewed as more of a niche solution for internet access in rural and remote areas. This week, SpaceX introduced a $40-per-month Starlink plan for parts of the US. But in other areas, it faces congestion and requires new sign-ups to pay a higher fee.
This is also good news for SpaceX's FCC application to operate close to 20,000 additional Starlink satellites and use even more radio spectrum to unleash the gigabit speeds. Last month, FCC Chair Brendan Carr also indicated that he’d open the floodgates to fast-track large-scale satellite license approvals, which typically take one to two years of regulatory review. (Still, the satellite approvals may face opposition from some environmentalists and astronomers concerned about Starlink creating light pollution and harming the ozone layer.)
Like Carr, Schwarz said the FCC needs to ramp up its ability to advance the US’s satellite industry, pointing to China as a major threat. “It’s space race 2.0. The CCP [Chinese Communist Party] is aggressively pursuing space dominance. They want to beat us to the orbits,” he said.
“And they want to offer nations around the world their own authoritarian-controlled internet from space,” he added, alluding to China’s strict censorship of the internet from within the country.
In response, the FCC is focused on streamlining its regulatory reviews "to dramatically increase throughput" for the satellite industry, he said, calling the current satellite licensing process "unpredictable and slow."
"Obtaining an FCC license shouldn’t be a multi-year odyssey. Engineers shouldn’t have to guess what requirements the FCC ultimately is going to have for how you should design your system,” he added. “Nobody should have to expect the FCC license is the linchpin to their entire business plan.”
To fix this, the commission wants to bake in flexibility and simplicity into the regulatory process while cutting out other burdensome requirements. This includes expediting proposals that clearly fall into the satellite licensing rules, allowing the FCC to focus on plans that deviate from the normal restrictions. “Eventually, we want all of this to lead to much more automation,” he said. “More predictability, shorter timelines, less bureaucracy.”
Another FCC goal is to ensure there’s enough radio spectrum available for satellite services, enabling them to deliver more data. In addition, the agency wants to prevent “under-use” of a resource from satellite companies blocking out competitors through licensed rights.