AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) want the FCC to delay T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) and SpaceX’s upcoming direct-to-cell satellite service. The two telecoms assert SpaceX’s Starlink implementation will cause harmful interference to their respective mobile broadband networks. Satellite companies EchoStar (NASDAQ: SATS) (which owns DISH) and Omnispace oppose the plans, too.
SpaceX and T-Mobile plan to offer supplemental coverage from space for T-Mobile’s cellular network using SpaceX satellites. SpaceX is asking the Commission for a waiver of its rules concerning out-of-band emission limits, notes Ars Technica.
SpaceX is now seeking a “ninefold increase” to current power flux-density limits for out-of-band emissions to enact the supplemental coverage from space offer, which, according to AT&T, “would cause unacceptable harmful interference” to terrestrial mobile operations.
Specifically, AT&T told the agency its technical analysis shows that SpaceX’s proposal would cause an “18 percent average reduction in network downlink throughput in an operational and representative AT&T PCS C Block market deployment.” Primary terrestrial licenses and networks must be protected from SCS interference, and operations under SpaceX’s waiver request would fail to do so, according to AT&T, notes The Verge.
Verizon too, told the Commission the SpaceX proposal “would subject incumbent, primary terrestrial licensee operations in adjacent bands to harmful interference.” That means Verizon’s wireless cell phone performance will suffer, according to the carrier.
SpaceX and T-Mobile representatives told FCC staff in a meeting earlier this month their plan won’t harm other wireless operations. They predicted competitors will continue to make “misleading claims and draconian demands to further delay Commission action and further limit service to American consumers,” they said, according to a summary of the meeting from SpaceX and T-Mobile.
AT&T and Verizon also plan to offer supplemental coverage from space as part of separate deals with AST SpaceMobile. Those are not likely to launch before 2025, according to Ars Technica. SpaceX and others interested in the proceeding have until August 22, to respond to the claims via the FCC.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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