The Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to modernize rules that govern how low-Earth orbit satellites share spectrum with other systems, a change the agency said could increase capacity for space-based broadband services by as much as sevenfold.
The decision updates a framework the FCC built in the late 1990s to keep low-Earth orbit satellites from interfering with geostationary spacecraft, but the agency said modern-day systems are designed to make sharing easier. It called the move a major step toward improving satellite broadband for millions of Americans, with faster speeds, lower costs and greater reliability.
That puts SpaceX, which runs the largest satellite internet constellation in low-Earth orbit, squarely in the center of the fight. In a March filing, the company told the FCC that the current framework shackles next-generation satellite operations and said the restrictions were built around outdated GSO systems. Viasat countered that loosening the limits on lower-orbiting satellites would create large amounts of interference.
The FCC said its old limits were based on theoretical designs for NGSO systems of that era, long before modern advancements were developed for the constellations now in orbit. SpaceX testing, the agency said, showed that a low-Earth-orbit system could increase the number of satellites serving a specific region by 700% without causing much interference. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr put it more plainly: one connection to a satellite could become connections to seven or more satellites at a time.
The policy shift arrives as the sector races to add capacity. Amazon is in the process of launching 3,000 satellites for its Project Kuiper constellation, and AST SpaceMobile is building what it says will be the first space-based cellular broadband network in low-Earth orbit. Brian Huseman wrote in support of the FCC decision that modern satellite technology like Amazon Leo can deliver gigabit speeds to rural and remote areas, but the rules had limited that potential.
The broad case for change is clear: the old rules were built to protect a world that no longer exists, and the companies now filling low-Earth orbit want the FCC to treat spectrum more like a shared highway than a gated lane. What remains to be tested is how much interference the new rules will allow in practice once these larger constellations begin to push harder against one another.
For readers following the launches, the debate sits behind the growing cadence of missions such as the Spacex Falcon 9 Rocket Launch sends 25 Starlink satellites from California and the Spacex Launch set for Monday night with 27 Starlink satellites, both part of the same larger race to widen service and pack more spacecraft into orbit.