SpaceX heightened its battle over broadband regulations with DISH Network and an affiliate of billionaire Michael Dell. SpaceX is calling for the FCC to address disputes over broadband use that SpaceX says could interfere with its Starlink satellite internet network.
At the heart of the fight is use of the 12 GHz band, used for broadband communications, and the band’s ability to support both ground-based and space-based services.
In January 2021, the FCC sought comment on how to best use the 12 GHz band. DISH and RS Access, funded by Dell’s investment firm, published studies arguing that ground-based 5G networks could share the frequency with low Earth orbit satellite networks, such as Starlink or OneWeb, reports CNBC.
SpaceX filed its analysis of the DISH and RS Access studies on Tuesday, claiming it needed to correct what it called “some of the most egregious assumptions” in the reports. It argued Starlink users would see interference to the point of causing service outages for customers “74 percent of the time.”
SpaceX urged the FCC “to investigate whether DISH and RS Access filed intentionally misleading reports,” noting that the studies did not match findings from DISH two years earlier that called sharing usage “not viable.”
A DISH spokesperson told CNBC the company’s “expert engineers are evaluating SpaceX’s claims.”
Telecoms like AT&T, and tech companies Google and Microsoft, oppose the change. So too, do satellite network operators Intelsat, OneWeb and SES.
Senior SpaceX representatives told CNBC the company hopes its analysis will persuade the FCC to see that a decision in favor of DISH and RS Access poses what amounts to an existential threat to the company’s Starlink network. “Leaving the proceeding open any longer simply cannot be justified for policy or technical reasons. Over the six years the Commission has let this proceeding fester, satellite operators have been forced to spend countless hours of engineering time responding to frivolous arguments by DISH and RS Access,” SpaceX Senior Director of Satellite Policy David Goldman wrote to the agency.
SpaceX has launched about 2,700 Starlink satellites into orbit to-date, with nearly 500,000 users and its manufacturing line is producing about 30,000 satellite dishes per week.
The FCC does not comment on open proceedings. It declined CNBC’s request for comment on when it expects to issue a decision on the 12 GHz band.
DISH and RS Access lead a coalition of companies that hold terrestrial FCC licenses in the 12 GHz band, with the pair of entities representing the two largest holders in the band.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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