To bolster its cellular Starlink service, SpaceX is reviving a regulatory battle for access to the 2GHz radio spectrum, long held by EchoStar, the parent company of Dish Network and Boost Mobile.On Wednesday, SpaceX filed a new application with the Federal Communications Commission to use the 2GHz spectrum, a year after the agency denied an earlier request for access. What’s changed? New FCC Chair Brendan Carr has signaled he wants to free up more radio spectrum for the commercial sector, including satellite services. Carr also sent a letter to EchoStar co-founder Charles Ergen last week, questioning the company’s control over a "large number of FCC spectrum licenses."On Monday, the FCC asked for public comment about whether EchoStar is effectively using the 2GHz band, which the company has exclusive control over for mobile satellite services. That prompted SpaceX to swoop in and request access to the 2GHz band for its cellular Starlink system, which is launching through T-Mobile in July. (Credit: T-Mobile)The company's application says the 2GHz spectrum “will provide a significant boost” to how SpaceX’s cellular Starlink system can connect users in cellular dead zones. "Granting this application will enable SpaceX to augment its MSS [mobile satellite service] capabilities and leverage its next generation satellite constellation to provide increased capacity, reduced latency, and broader service coverage for mobile users across the United States, including those users underserved or unserved by existing networks,” SpaceX wrote.In the US, the cellular Starlink service currently uses T-Mobile's 1.91 to 1.995GHz bands.Recommended by Our EditorsThe same application also criticizes EchoStar over its control of the 2GHz spectrum for mobile satellite services. SpaceX even went as far as to use its own Starlink satellites to measure radioactivity in the 2GHz spectrum, finding “EchoStar’s activity level is 1% to 5% in the 2000-2020MHz range and 1% to 3% in the 2180- 2200MHz range.”(Credit: SpaceX)The application also claims that EchoStar has no intention of using the 2GHz for a mobile satellite service, citing a comment from EchoStar CEO Hamid Akhavan during an earnings call last week that suggests. "If I had a satellite today, I would not launch it today," he said. "I would not because the satellite has a life of several years in the LEO system. And if the satellite goes up there, but there are no devices to talk to, what is the point?"As a result, SpaceX tells the FCC: “EchoStar’s inaction is not only a fundamental waste of valuable MSS spectrum, but also an opportunity for other more motivated and capable next-generation satellite system operators to more intensively use the spectrum to provide mobile services to Americans in underserved and unserved areas.”SpaceX's goal is to share the 2GHz spectrum, saying it can do so without generating radio interference. To gain faster access, the application also asks the FCC to waive its normal rules concerning spectrum approval. (Photo Illustration by Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)EchoStar didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But in response to the FCC’s inquiry, the company is pushing back on concerns about its spectrum use, telling investors it’s still developing a “direct-to-device” satellite system for phones."We are now testing new S-band (2 to 4GHz) services in both North America and Europe, and this year we launched an LEO satellite with several more planned in the coming months,” the company wrote in an SEC filing. In the past, EchoStar has also lobbied the FCC to reject SpaceX’s efforts to “pirate” access to the 2GHz band. “SpaceX’s attack is defamatory and anti-competitive. It is a transparently bad faith attempt to usurp the spectrum rights of a competitor, and the Commission should dismiss it as such,” the company wrote in a separate filing last month.

As the Federal Communications Commission considers GPS alternatives, SpaceX says its Starlink satellites are already up for the task.The company made its pitch in a Wednesday letter to the FCC after the commission kicked off a public inquiry about developing alternatives to GPS, which has long been run through a single provider, the US Defense Department.  The FCC’s goal is to usher in Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) solutions to complement GPS. In response, SpaceX sent a five-page letter that noted: "One opportunity stands out as a particularly ripe, low-hanging fruit: facilitating the rapid deployment of next-generation low-Earth orbit ('LEO') satellite constellations that can deliver PNT as a service alongside high-speed, low-latency broadband and ubiquitous mobile connectivity.”The letter says SpaceX has already been working on a PNT system for its cellular Starlink service, which is in public beta and will launch through T-Mobile in July. “SpaceX has also been actively working to integrate PNT solutions into its direct-to-device commercial service offerings,” the company wrote. “In so doing, SpaceX can advance the Commission’s goal in this proceeding to maintain American leadership in next-generation PNT services both here at home and in over 130 countries it serves around the world.”SpaceX didn't say how it would offer the PNT system for public use, writing only that “SpaceX looks forward to playing an integral role in creating a more robust, resilient, and secure PNT ecosystem for Americans and people around the world.”Recommended by Our EditorsThe letter also notes that Starlink satellites can already operate independent of GPS. “This capability not only allows those systems to operate unhindered even if GPS is unavailable, it also sets the foundation for future solutions that can use any authorized frequency to deliver accurate, reliable, and resilient PNT to any end user device," it says.SpaceX previously told the FCC it's advocating for a “technology-neutral approach” with GPS alternatives. Wednesday’s letter reiterates the point, preaching for the development of a “diversified and robust” PNT ecosystem. That said, SpaceX took some shots at Hughesnet’s parent EchoStar, alleging the company’s control of the 2GHz radio spectrum for a mobile satellite service (MSS) remains unused. The FCC might agree. On Monday, the agency began soliciting public comment about whether EchoStar is utilizing the 2GHz band for MSS consistent with the terms of its authorizations and the Commission’s rules and policies governing the expectation of robust MSS.”In the meantime, SpaceX isn’t alone in trying to pitch its satellite services as a backup to GPS. Apple satellite provider Globalstar also sent a letter to the FCC about how its services “can function as either an alternative or a complement to GPS.”“Notably, Globalstar’s satellites transmit outside of the L-band, which provides PNT users with added immunity from GPS jamming and spoofing,” the company said. “In addition, Globalstar’s satellite transmissions at 2.4GHz are stronger than GPS signals, bolstering resilience, performance, and reliability.”

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has threatened to revoke EchoStar licenses for radio frequency bands coveted by rival firms including SpaceX, which alleges that EchoStar is underutilizing the spectrum. "I have directed agency staff to begin a review of EchoStar's compliance with its federal obligations to provide 5G service throughout the United States per the terms of its federal spectrum licenses," Carr wrote in a May 9 letter to EchoStar Chairman Charles Ergen. EchoStar and its affiliates "hold a large number of FCC spectrum licenses that cover a significant amount of spectrum," the letter said. Ergen defended his company's wireless deployment but informed investors that EchoStar "cannot predict with any degree of certainty the outcome" of the FCC proceedings. The letter from Carr and Ergen's statement is included in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing submitted by EchoStar today. EchoStar's stock price was down about 8 percent in trading today. EchoStar bought Dish Network in December 2023 and offers wireless service under the Boost Mobile brand. As The Wall Street Journal notes, the firm "has spent years wiring thousands of cellphone towers to help Boost become a wireless operator that could rival AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, but the project has been slow-going. Boost's subscriber base has shrunk in the five years since Ergen bought the brand from Sprint." [...] EchoStar will have to prove its case in the two FCC proceedings. The FCC set a May 27 deadline for the first round of comments in both proceedings and a June 6 deadline for reply comments. The proceedings could result in the FCC letting other companies use the spectrum and other remedies. "In particular, we seek information on whether EchoStar is utilizing the 2 GHz band for MSS consistent with the terms of its authorizations and the Commission's rules and policies governing the expectation of robust MSS," the FCC Space Bureau's call for comments said. "We also seek comment on steps the Commission might take to make more intensive use of the 2 GHz band, including but not limited to allowing new MSS entrants in the band." Last month, SpaceX urged the FCC to reallocate the spectrum, saying "the 2 GHz band remains ripe for sharing among next-generation satellite systems that seek to finally make productive use of the spectrum for consumers and first responders." EchoStar countered that SpaceX's filing is "intended to cloak another land grab for even more free spectrum," and that its "methodology is completely nonsensical, given that EchoStar's terrestrial deployment is subject to population-based milestones that EchoStar has repeatedly demonstrated in status reports." Read more of this story at Slashdot.