SpaceX’s ambitious plan to enhance Starlink with more capabilities, including gigabit speeds, is drawing accusations that it will be anticompetitive to the satellite industry as a whole.
On Monday, Globalstar, Viasat, Hughesnet’s parent Echostar, and Iridum urged the FCC to deny parts of or dismiss SpaceX’s proposed upgrades, which call for operating nearly 30,000 Starlink satellites and expanding the radio spectrum it can access.
US-based Viasat was particularly vociferous in its resistance, warning that SpaceX’s plan could push out competitors, citing the scale of the upgraded Starlink network.
“This dramatic expansion of SpaceX’s operating authority would give it an even greater ability and incentive to foreclose other operators from accessing and using limited orbital and spectrum resources on a competitive basis,” the company told the FCC in a 40-page filing.
“The commission should recognize SpaceX’s applications for what they are—a serious threat to competition and innovation that must be countered, and not abetted,” Viasat added.
EchoStar raised similar concerns, claiming SpaceX’s proposal also calls for eliminating certain regulatory protections for all satellite players. The changes would give Elon Musk’s company an “unfair, fast-tracked advantage relative to its competitors” while generating radio interference for satellite TV operators, EchoStar wrote in its own 51-page filing.
(Credit: Yongming Gao via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Apple’s partner Globalstar took issue with SpaceX’s request to access the 1429 to 2690MHz radio bands outside the US to power the cellular Starlink service for mobile phones.
Currently, Globalstar has the right to use the same spectrum in the US. But SpaceX has been lobbying the FCC to open the radio bands for shared access despite Globalstar’s concerns that doing so will interfere with its own satellite network.
In Monday’s letter, Globalstar warned that granting SpaceX access to the radio bands internationally risked unleashing chaos in the radio spectrum for low-Earth satellites. The company also alleged it could disrupt Globalstar’s “increasing commercial momentum” when it’s preparing to launch a new satellite constellation to power future features for iPhones.
“More generally, this action would discourage the multi-year planning and investment that are essential to the deployment and evolution of successful satellite networks,” the company wrote in its filing. “SpaceX, meanwhile, fails to provide any legitimate public interest justification for this fundamental change to the US Big LEO MSS licensing framework.”
The filings are the first salvos in what’s poised to become a bitter regulatory battle between SpaceX and its rivals over next-generation upgrades for Starlink. Last week, SpaceX lobbied the FCC to reject Globalstar’s application to operate its next-gen satellite constellation for iPhones.
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Not every satellite player opposes SpaceX’s push to upgrade its Starlink network. Amazon’s Project Kuiper told the FCC to “seriously consider several of SpaceX’s well-grounded requests for waiver of the commission’s rules, including those for access to spectrum bands that will allow SpaceX to better serve customers within the United States.
“The American people are served best when regulators exercise restraint and allow operators to deploy and compete,” the Amazon subsidiary added.
Meanwhile, Eutelsat was more measured in its resistance and urged the FCC to first address the concerns of SpaceX operating an additional 22,488 satellites, including the risk of radio interference, before approving the plan.
SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In the meantime, several other groups representing rural communities in the US also sent letters to the FCC, backing SpaceX’s proposal. “Expanding Starlink’s satellite broadband would provide essential connectivity for rural and roadless communities like ours in Southeast Alaska, where broadband access remains a challenge,” a council for the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska told the commission.
A court office for Wise County, Virginia, also sent a letter, saying SpaceX has become indispensable in helping it communicate and process court proceedings. “Additionally, hundreds of our constituents depend on Starlink broadband to interact with local government,” the letter said. “The approval of this application is critical for expanding high-speed broadband access in the Central Appalachian Mountains of Virginia.”
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About Michael Kan
Senior Reporter
