SpaceX Urges FCC to Greenlight Gigabit Starlink Upgrades, Fires Back at Critics

SpaceX is calling on the FCC to “swiftly” approve its plan to upgrade the Starlink network with gigabit speeds, touting the benefits while firing back at its critics.

“SpaceX urges its competitors to direct their energy away from anticompetitive attacks on responsible US systems and toward improving the sustainability of their own unreliable or unproven systems,” the company told the US regulator today.

SpaceX sent the 54-page letter to the FCC two weeks after several satellite companies—Globalstar, Viasat, Hughesnet’s parent Echostar, and Iridum—urged the commission to dismiss or deny certain parts of the proposed upgrades. “The commission should recognize SpaceX’s applications for what they are—a serious threat to competition,” Viasat said at the time. 

SpaceX is pressing the FCC to let it operate 30,000 Starlink satellites, or a three-fold increase, and access a broader range of radio spectrum bands. This promises to deliver gigabit internet speeds to Starlink users and improved satellite connectivity, including 6G, to mobile phones.

However, rival satellite companies like Eutelsat/OneWeb have raised concerns or objected to the proposed upgrades, citing fears it’ll generate radio interference with their own networks. Another worry is that the ambitious scope of the plan will give Starlink an unfair edge, stymying other satellite companies from accessing radio spectrum and orbits to compete.

(Credit: Imaginima via Getty Images)

In response, SpaceX told the FCC to dismiss the criticism as unfounded, citing its own analysis, which shows no harmful interference will occur. 

“These commenters rely on outdated rules, rejected arguments, revisionist history, and factual errors to assert that SpaceX’s Gen2 upgrade would cause them significant interference problems or preclude future entry in those bands. But even a cursory review of these opposing comments and petitions reveal that their arguments are meritless and must be rejected,” the company added.

SpaceX went as far as alleging that Eutelsat “manipulates its analysis to overstate the risk of harmful interference.” The company also took a shot at Viasat for claiming that Starlink gigabit upgrades are an anti-competitive play. 

“Viasat repeats the same baseless claims about ‘monopolization’ of low-Earth orbits as it makes to foreign administrations when it urges them to block the US from licensing any NGSO (non-geostationary satellite orbit) systems,” SpaceX said. “But despite Viasat’s anti-competitive claims, the US continues to have the most stringent orbital debris rules in the world and SpaceX continues to be transparent, accommodating, and forward-looking in its operations.” 

SpaceX and its competitors have repeatedly tussled on this issue. Most recently, Elon Musk’s company urged the commission to reject Globalstar’s plan to launch a new constellation of 48 low-Earth orbiting satellites as the two companies battle for spectrum access. 

Still, Tuesday’s letter from SpaceX shows it’s hoping to gain clearance of the gigabit upgrades soon. The company is already developing a new Starlink dish to offer the gigabit speeds, which also hinge on SpaceX’s Starship vehicle deploying next-generation V3 satellites. 

In the letter, SpaceX also noted it’s requesting a waiver to streamline the FCC’s approval for access to the additional radio bands. In addition, the company wants another waiver to loosen the “equivalent power flux density (EPFD) downlink limits,” calling the regulation “outdated” and overly restrictive. 

“Critically, SpaceX does not seek exclusive use of any spectrum or orbital resources and has dedicated significant and continuous engineering to ensure that it remains a responsible steward of shared resources and a positive example for others,” the company added. 

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About Michael Kan

Senior Reporter

I’ve been working as a journalist for over 15 years—I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017.

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