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Satellite Internet

FCC clears SpaceX to use EchoStar spectrum for direct-to-device, sets 29 October auction vote

The US Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it will vote on 29 October on advancing a new spectrum auction for direct-to-device services, a day after it approved SpaceX's plan to use the 65 MHz of EchoStar spectrum it bought for $19.6 billion to expand its D2D plans.

By Tom Ellery · · Updated · 2 min read

The official seal of the US Federal Communications Commission, an eagle with a shield bearing satellite, antenna and tower emblems
Seal of the US Federal Communications Commission — public domain (US federal government work), via Wikimedia Commons

The US Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it will vote on 29 October on whether to advance a new auction of wireless spectrum aimed at boosting direct-to-device (D2D) satellite services, Reuters reported.

The announcement came a day after the FCC late on Tuesday approved SpaceX’s plan to use spectrum it acquired from EchoStar — 65 megahertz bought for $19.6 billion through two deals announced last year — to expand its direct-to-device plans. The commission will also hold an initial vote on modernising its D2D rules and finalise rules allowing drone operations in the 800 MHz cellular band.

“The ‘direct-to-device’ proposals work to continue leveraging this cutting-edge tech to end cell phone dead zones and provide service directly from next-gen satellite constellations to your smartphone,” FCC chair Brendan Carr said in a statement. The FCC is proposing to auction 25 megahertz of key spectrum for D2D and make an additional 482 megahertz available for supplemental coverage from space. Carr said last month that upcoming spectrum auctions could generate more than $100 billion.

Direct-to-device technology lets smartphones connect directly to satellites and is being developed by SpaceX and Amazon’s Leo. The 6 October order is a separate grant from the FCC’s January approval of 7,500 more second-generation Starlink satellites: it authorises a new 15,000-spacecraft direct-to-device system applied for in September 2025, flying at 326–335 kilometres, under standard deployment milestones (half the fleet by 7 October 2032, the rest within nine years). Together the two grants cover 30,000 satellites. Last week AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon named Paul Roth interim chief executive of a joint venture aimed at expanding satellite-enabled mobile coverage.

Sources

Correction (8 October): an earlier version of this article said the constellation authorisation was unchanged by the Tuesday decision. The FCC’s 6 October order is a distinct 15,000-satellite direct-to-device authorisation (a separate September 2025 application), not the January Gen2 grant — the article has been corrected.

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