FCC readies satellite power loosening

The Federal Communications Commission is about to vote on a rule change that sounds tiny but reaches all the way from rural broadband bills to wartime internet blackouts abroad: how much signal power broadband satellites can use when they share spectrum with older satellite systems. The vote is scheduled for the agency’s April 30, 2026 meeting. (docs.fcc.gov) For years, the United States has used a late-1990s formula called equivalent power flux density, which is basically a ceiling on how much radio energy a non-geostationary satellite system can spray toward Earth and other satellites. The Federal Communications Commission now says those limits were built around “theoretical designs” that do not match modern satellite networks. (docs.fcc.gov) (rcrwireless.com) The two satellite camps in this fight sit in different kinds of orbit. Geostationary orbit satellites stay fixed over one point on Earth, while non-geostationary orbit systems such as low Earth orbit constellations move across the sky in large fleets. (docs.fcc.gov) (satellitetoday.com) That difference matters because a moving low Earth orbit network can reuse spectrum in a more dynamic way, but it can also create interference for older geostationary systems if the sharing rules are too loose. The new order would replace the old one-size-fits-all ceiling with performance-based protections aimed at the geostationary operators that are already in those bands. (docs.fcc.gov) (advanced-television.com) The Federal Communications Commission’s argument is that today’s satellites steer beams more precisely and can manage interference more intelligently than the systems regulators imagined in the 1990s. Chairman Brendan Carr said on April 8 that the change could unlock more than $2 billion in economic benefits and as much as seven times more capacity for space-based broadband. (docs.fcc.gov) That is why companies like SpaceX want this so badly. Reports on the docket say SpaceX argues the current framework holds back Starlink speeds and capacity, while geostationary operators including Viasat, SES, and DIRECTV warn that higher power could bleed into their services and degrade links they already paid to build. (broadbandbreakfast.com) (satnews.com) The consumer promise is simple: if low Earth orbit systems can push more data through the same spectrum, they may deliver faster service at lower cost in places where fiber and cable still do not reach. The Federal Communications Commission’s draft order says the current limits can prevent newer constellations from delivering higher speeds. (rcrwireless.com) (insidetowers.com) But spectrum rules do not stop at the water’s edge, because the same satellite networks cross borders by design. In Iran, where Starlink is illegal, receivers have been smuggled in and sold on the black market, giving some people a way around state-controlled terrestrial internet shutdowns. (straitstimes.com 1) (straitstimes.com 2) That is not a side story anymore. Bloomberg reported on April 9 that Iran’s near-total shutdown had become the world’s longest nationwide blackout since the Arab Spring era, and activists have been trying to connect people through Starlink despite the legal and physical risks inside the country. (bloomberg.com) (straitstimes.com) So the April 30 vote is about more than an engineering formula. It is a decision about whether Washington rewrites 1990s guardrails for a world where broadband comes from fast-moving constellations, where incumbents fear interference, and where a dish on a rooftop can become both an internet subscription and a political lifeline. (docs.fcc.gov) (bloomberg.com)))