Non-geostationary satellite orbital (NGSO) constellations, including Starlink and other similar services in development, has outgrown the technology regulators in the 1990s could have predicted, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioners said during their monthly agenda meeting today. They unanimously adopted a Report and Order to improve coordination between NGSO and geostationary orbital (GSO) operators to bring things up to date.
“While highly technical, these rule changes are expected to have real-world impacts, including up to eight-fold increases in satellite broadband capacity available in a given area, and total economic benefits in the billions of dollars,” said Clay DeCell, an attorney with the FCC’s Satellite Programs and Policy Division.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr cheered that satellite, which had been a niche player when transmitting broadband to the home over GSOs, is now directly competing with wireline and terrestrial wireless broadband companies. Starlink currently has about three million subscribers in the United States and more than 10 million globally. That is why the Commission began looking at updating its 30-year-old technical rules.
“Those decades-old rules no longer reflect today’s offerings. In fact, they’re holding them back,” Carr said. “Modern satellite designs make it far easier to share spectrum than what yesterday’s regulations assume. We can do a lot better today.”
Specifically, the new rules encourage GSO and NGSO operators to negotiate coordinated spectrum sharing voluntary agreements to avoid interference. It also removes the established international Equivalent Power Flux Density (EPFD) method for measuring interference from NGSO satellites and replaces it with techniques that take into account the design of current satellites. The current system “over protects” GSO satellites, the FCC said.“
I appreciate the chairman’s collaboration in advancing language that positions the United States as a leader in future international discussions on EPFD limits,” said Commissioner Olivia Trusty. “I’m optimistic that today’s action and the real-world results it enables will strengthen our hand at advancing global spectrum harmonization through the [International Telecommunications Union] process.”
