The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released a report and order that could lead to changes in rules governing how geostationary orbit (GSO) and non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) systems share spectrum, with the goal of “empower[ing] super-fast, space-based broadband.”
The FCC says that, if adopted, the report and order would change 1990s-era rules, create more than $2 billion in economic benefits, and — perhaps more importantly — increase the capacity for space-based broadband services as much as sevenfold. The updates, the press release says, would facilitate faster speeds, lower costs, and greater reliability.
“The FCC is moving fast to unleash affordable, high-speed internet. By discarding last century’s satellite regulations, we could see billions of dollars in benefits for the American economy and broadband speeds many times faster than what is available today,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a press release.
“This overdue rethinking of space spectrum sharing rules will bring greater competition to the broadband marketplace and reduce the number of satellites needed to serve a given area. Our Build America Agenda is unleashing America’s space industry to deliver for consumers.”
The FCC says that the current system limits the ability of space-based operators to deliver high-speed, low-latency broadband services to consumers. The reason is that NGSO operators’ power levels are restricted by Equivalent Power Flux Density (EPFD) limits that were developed in the late-1990s in an effort to protect GSO satellites.
If adopted, the report and order would lead to a framework featuring performance-based GSO protection criteria. The new rules would take advantage of improved spectrum sharing possibilities in modern satellites, including adaptive coding and modulation (ACM).
The Trump administration has taken several steps towards expanding the low earth-orbit (LEO) sector and managing the increased traffic that would create. Earlier this week, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) administration said it would create the Space Launch Frequency Coordination Portal, an effort to streamline federal reviews of spectrum requests by commercial satellite launch providers.
In January, the FCC approved an application from LEO provider SpaceX to add 7,500 Gen2 Starlink satellites to its existing fleet, which would double its current number. A month later, it approved Amazon Leo’s application to put 4,504 satellites in orbit.
