FCC opens 200 MHz of unlicensed spectrum to satellite direct-to-device
What happened
The FCC voted unanimously at its August 6 Open Meeting (Chairman Brendan Carr, Commissioners Olivia Trusty and Anna Gomez) to adopt a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, "Unleashing Unlicensed Spectrum for Direct-to-Device" (ET Docket No. 26-169). The NPRM proposes allowing Part 15 unlicensed devices to communicate directly with satellites in the 2400-2483.5 MHz and 5725-5850 MHz bands (Earth-to-space and space-to-Earth), and separately proposes clarifying that Part 15 unlicensed devices may operate aboard FCC-authorized spacecraft. The adopted item dropped the 902-928 MHz band that was in the July 16 public draft, after NextNav (a 900MHz priority licensee) and rural ISPs raised incumbent-interference concerns; OET Chief Andrew Hendrickson: "It's significantly more complex than the 2.5 GHz or 5.8 GHz. There's multiple types of incumbent services with varying levels of protection that are there. Ultimately we decided not to consider it." Comment cycle opens on Federal Register publication: 30 days for comments, 60 for reply comments.
Read-across for SES
This is a new *unlicensed* D2D lane — distinct from the licensed-MSS D2D fights (AST, Starlink, Amazon-Globalstar) that directly touch SES's own spectrum interests — but it materially widens the pool of D2D-capable spectrum with zero MSS-license requirement. That directly feeds SpaceConnect's (Amazon-led) argument in the live EC 2 GHz MSS consortium debate that D2D supply is already abundant and doesn't need a reserved-for-IRIS²-sovereignty carve-out, which SES/Lynk (the weakest 2GHz bidder per Farrar) is arguing against. Ahead of the ~September consortium call.
As the brief filed it
[AGE: 17h] FCC unanimously adopts NPRM opening ~200MHz unlicensed spectrum (2.4GHz+5.8GHz) for direct-to-device satellite links, dropping the contested 900MHz band — new "D2D supply is abundant" ammunition for SpaceConnect against SES/Lynk's 2GHz MSS bid.