SpaceX’s Starlink could see a “sevenfold” increase in capacity under new rules approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) this week to improve satellite internet services. “Americans are now about to see a big upgrade,” said FCC Chair Brendan Carr.
As PCMag reports, the commission introduced the new rules earlier in April before approving them at a meeting last week. The revamp targets the Equivalent Power Flux Density (EPFD) rules, which were developed in the late 1990s and limited the amount of energy satellite systems could transmit to and from ground equipment.
The regulations were also designed to prevent radio signal interference between higher-orbiting geostationary satellites and lower-orbiting systems. But during the vote, Carr said the decades-old existing rules were “holding back” newer satellite internet offerings. “Modern satellite designs make it far easier to share spectrum than what yesterday’s regulations assumed. We can do a lot better,” he said.
Carr touted the 7x increase when the commission found the revamped rules could enable “eight satellites to provide service simultaneously in a given geographic area and frequency band, instead of being effectively limited to one satellite under current EPFD limits.” The FCC reached that conclusion after SpaceX conducted real-world tests that showed a low-Earth-orbiting system could increase the number of satellites serving a region by “700%,” from one to eight, without causing much interference.
The commission added that the increased satellite use “immediately boosts capacity, which translates to faster broadband speeds for American consumers. Increasing the capacity available to any location can improve quality of service or allow competitors to provide the same quality of service with a smaller constellation, which could potentially lower prices to consumers.”
The rule change also benefits Amazon’s upcoming Starlink challenger, Leo, which supported updating the spectrum-sharing policy. Amazon VP for Public Policy, Brian Huseman, said: “This step forward will help provide internet access for underserved communities.” Leo is slated to officially launch this summer.
It’s unclear when SpaceX will start taking advantage of the new rules. But the company’s VP for satellite policy, David Goldman, applauded the FCC vote, tweeting: “FCC’s rule change for next-generation satellite systems will bring help to those who need it most. Exactly. Huge!”
Although Starlink has been mostly seen as a solution for rural and remote communities lacking access to high-speed internet, Carr suggested that SpaceX’s satellite internet system could also go toe-to-toe with traditional ISPs, noting: “increasingly, satellite is competing with them all.”
“Satellite broadband is a real and growing competitor in the connectivity marketplace,” Carr added, later saying that the revamped rules “will allow satellite operators with greater parity alongside terrestrial broadband offerings.”
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