Satellite

Starlink Plans to Join Affordable Connectivity Fund Subsidy Program

Starlink has deployed about 5,500 satellites into low earth orbit, and the current generation service produces ‘urban-quality’ broadband, said SpaceX.

Published

3 weeks ago

December 20, 2023

Ted Hearn

WASHINGTON, December 20, 2023 – Elon Musk’s global satellite Internet company Starlink is close to joining a major federal broadband subsidy program.

David Goldman, Vice President of Satellite Policy for SpaceX, disclosed today that Starlink plans to enter the Affordable Connectivity Program run by the Federal Communications Commission for the past two years.

“We are eligible for it, and we are planning on participating. We haven’t turned it on yet.” Goldman said today on a webcast sponsored by Broadband Breakfast.

Starlink’s standard unlimited data plan costs $120 a month in addition to the upfront equipment charge of $599. The ACP provides a $30 a month discount on monthly broadband bills for eligible households.

David Goldman, Vice President of Satellite Policy for SpaceX, during Broadband Breakfast Live Online event.

Starlink, Goldman said, has deployed about 5,500 satellites into low earth orbit – about 340 miles in the sky. He said current generation satellites have four times the capacity of earlier versions, meaning more customers can be served with “urban-quality” broadband.

“We also are available anywhere in the United States, all 50 states, and we have cleared any kind of backlog that we have,” Goldman said, adding that Starlink serves more than 2 million subscribers globally.

Hosted by Drew Clark, Editor and Publisher of Broadband Breakfast, the webinar also included: Kalpak Gude, Head of Domestic Regulatory Affairs, Project Kuiper; Kelly Martin, Account Director, Eutelsat OneWeb; and Martin Marshall, Senior Sales Engineer Services & Platforms, Eutelsat OneWeb.

The ACP – which originally received $14.2 billion from Congress to help with the recovery from COVID-19 – is expected to run out of money by next April. That could impact up to 25 million households, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in Nov. 30 House testimony. President Biden has requested $6 billion to keep ACP going.

Senior Capitol Hill Republicans have pushed back on Rosenworcel’s estimate, pointing to data from the Universal Service Administrative Company that only 16% and 22% of current ACP enrollees did not have Internet access prior to the launch of the ACP.

This article by Ted Hearn was originally published on Policyband on December 20, 2023, and is reprinted with permission.

Correction: A previous version of this story said that the current generation of Starlink’s satellites have download speeds four times faster than earlier generations. In fact, the current generation of Starlink’s satellites have four times the capacity of earlier generations. The story has been corrected.

Our Broadband Breakfast Live Online events take place on Wednesday at 12 Noon ET. Watch the event on Broadband Breakfast, or REGISTER HERE to join the conversation.

Wednesday, December 20, 2023 – Space Wars: What to Expect from Satellite Broadband

As satellite internet providers like SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper continue expanding, the race for space-based broadband is heating up. With the FCC approving SpaceX’s Gen2 satellite deployment and Amazon testing prototype launches, these companies are poised to blanket the skies with thousands more satellites. What are the implications of this new phase, particularly the potential for interference issues, orbital debris concerns and 5G backhaul capabilities? What about the regulatory and policy questions surrounding mega-constellations and space commercialization? Will satellite broadband address the current digital divide, potentially on a global scale? Join the discussion for informed perspectives on the path forward amid the space broadband boom.

Panelists

David Goldman, Vice President of Satellite Policy for SpaceX
Kalpak Gude, Head of Domestic Regulatory Affairs, Project Kuiper
Kelly Martin, Account Director, Eutelsat OneWeb
Drew Clark (moderator), Editor and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast

David Goldman is the Vice President of Satellite Policy for SpaceX. Prior to joining SpaceX in 2018, he was the Chief Counsel for the Senate Communication and Technology Subcommittee since January 2015. Before that, he served as the Senior Legal Advisor for FCC then-Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, and was her chief advisor on wireless, international, and public safety issues, along with responsibility for other issues of policy, strategy, public relations, and office operations.

Kalpak Gude is the Head of Domestic Regulatory Affairs for Project Kuiper at Amazon. He is also responsible for Project Kuiper’s space safety and sustainability efforts on a global basis. Prior to Amazon, Mr. Gude was General Counsel at Swarm Technologies and President of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance trade association. He has also had senior roles in the U.S. government at the FCC and U.S. Senate, as well as in industry at OneWeb, Intelsat and PanAmSat.

Kelly Martin is Director for OneWeb servicing government segments including government grant programs, federal government, state & local, and international defense. OneWeb’s go-to-market strategy is through distribution partners. In her director role, Kelly interfaces with AT&T, Hughes and X2nSat in bringing LEO satellite services to the end-user.

Breakfast Media LLC CEO Drew Clark has led the Broadband Breakfast community since 2008. An early proponent of better broadband, better lives, he initially founded the Broadband Census crowdsourcing campaign for broadband data. As Editor and Publisher, Clark presides over the leading media company advocating for higher-capacity internet everywhere through topical, timely and intelligent coverage. Clark also served as head of the Partnership for a Connected Illinois, a state broadband initiative.

WATCH HERE, or on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

As with all Broadband Breakfast Live Online events, the FREE webcasts will take place at 12 Noon ET on Wednesday.

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Dish Files Petition for Reconsideration on SpaceX Testing

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DISH Agrees to First FCC Enforcement Action Over Space Debris

Ted Hearn

Ted Hearn is the Editor and Publisher of Policyband, a new website dedicated to comprehensive coverage of the broadband communications market.

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Satellite

Dish Files Petition for Reconsideration on SpaceX Testing

The company is concerned about interference in adjacent bands.

Published

1 week ago

January 5, 2024

Jake Neenan

Graphic from NOAA.

WASHINGTON, January 5, 2024 – Dish Network filed a petition for reconsideration of the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to allow SpaceX to test satellites for its cellular service with T-Mobile.

The partnership is intended to use SpaceX satellites to provide service to mobile devices on some of T-Mobile’s spectrum bands.

But Dish, in a Tuesday filing, is concerned about the potential for harmful interference in adjacent bands in which it operates its own satellite systems and asked the FCC to limit the number of satellites SpaceX can test, or to halt future testing altogether.

AT&T and the Rural Wireless Association, a trade group of small, rural wireless carriers, have also opposed the move out of fears that other systems could be interrupted. SpaceX applied to operate the service in May 2023.

Satellite-mobile company Omnispace met with Commission staff on December 11 to discuss an analysis that raised similar concerns. Dish submitted a letter signing onto Omnispace’s study and asked the agency to require further study on the potential for interference before fully authorizing the service.

The FCC granted SpaceX authorization on December 1 to test the radios on its satellites in the 1910-1915 megahertz and 1990-1995 MHz bands, known as the “G-Block,” but only for 10 days at a time.

The size of SpaceX’s fleet makes that limitation less effective at mitigating the effects of any interference, Dish said in its petition.

“When a system is authorized for 7,500 satellites, testing for each launch would effectively allow such operations for an astounding 75,000 days, the equivalent of two centuries,” the company said.

SpaceX, for its part, has said in filings that its software can quickly turn off individual satellites in the event of any interference with existing systems and has refuted Omnispace’s analysis, arguing the potential for such interference is low.

PCMag reported the Commission gave the company permission on December 14 to go further and conduct field tests with on-the-ground devices in 25 locations across the United States. SpaceX launched its first six satellites for that purpose on Tuesday and plans to “soon” begin testing, the company said in a release.

Dish and SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment.

Satellite

DISH Agrees to First FCC Enforcement Action Over Space Debris

DISH did not adhere to its plan for disposing of a satellite, the commission said.

Published

3 months ago

October 3, 2023

Jake Neenan

Photo of Loyaan Egal, head of the FCC's Enforcement Bureau.

WASHINGTON, October 3, 2023 – DISH Network has agreed Monday to settle with the Federal Communications Commission over the carrier’s failing to properly dispose of a satellite.

As part of the settlement – the first space debris enforcement action from the commission – DISH agreed to pay a $150,000 fine and adhere to a compliance plan.

When the company’s EchoStar-7 satellite reached the end of its life, the order read, DISH moved it 122 kilometers above its normal position into a disposal orbit – an orbit designated for old and unused equipment that sits far away from currently operating satellites and communication equipment.

But DISH had agreed as part of its operating license to put the satellite almost 180 km further into space by May 2022.

The company was unable to fully move the satellite because it ran out of fuel in February of that year. But the failure to comply with its FCC license still constituted a violation of the Communications Act of 1934, the agency said in a statement, and the dead satellite “could pose orbital debris concerns.”

The first-of-its-kind fine comes as the FCC is looking to expand its regulatory presence in space and crack down on debris orbiting the planet. The commission established its Space Bureau this year and adopted a rule in September 2022 shortening the window for companies to dispose of satellites after they complete their missions.

The commission also voted in September 2023 to streamline satellite application processing.

“As satellite operations become more prevalent and the space economy accelerates, we must be certain that operators comply with their commitments,” FCC Enforcement Bureau chief Loyaan Egal said.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in September the commission is working on new regulatory frameworks to support satellite-to-smartphone communications.

Satellite

Satellites Essential to Bridging Global Digital Divide, Says Provider

Satellites can bring broadband to communities that terrestrial networks can’t reach.

Published

4 months ago

August 31, 2023

Jake Neenan

Photo of Michele Di Paolo, director of business development and product lifecycle management at SpaceBridge.

WASHINGTON, August 31, 2023 – Satellites are essential to bridging the global digital divide and connecting unserved regions and countries, an expert said on Thursday.

Satellites can be used to bring responsive broadband connections to nations without widely available internet access, an element of the United Nations’ plan to eliminate poverty, said Michele Di Paolo, director of business development and product lifecycle management at satellite provider SpaceBridge.

“It’s something that can’t be overstated,” he said at an event hosted by Via Satellite magazine. “It’s a very important part of satellite’s benefits.”

These connections allow communities to access banking, healthcare, and education services that would otherwise never have been available in their areas, Di Paulo said.

He pointed to villages he worked with in Kenya and Nigeria that were too far from city centers to access their ground-based networks. Healthcare centers struggled to run applications properly on outdated 2G connections, he said.

New satellites enabled them to access broadband connections and function normally, as well as add residents to national registries and arrange consultations with specialists for people who need advanced treatment.

Satellites are also being used to connect the most remote regions of Canada. Subsidized by Canadian broadband expansion initiatives, satellites provide the country’s sparsely populated Nunavut territory with connections in excess of 15 Gbps, according to Di Paulo.

“This is really bridging the divide between the urbans and the ultra-rurals,” Di Paulo said. “It’s going to be a game-changer for them.

In March, the Federal Communications Commission proposed a framework for allowing satellite operators to collaborate with terrestrial networks to supplement mobile broadband connections.