TAMPA, Fla. — SpaceX has applied for more spectrum to upgrade Starlink satellite broadband services for mobile users.
The company asked the U.S. Federal Communications Commission July 25 for permission to use the 2 GHz spectrum band to “augment” its mobile satellite services (MSS).
Specific details about the next-generation services Starlink plans to provide were not disclosed.
David Goldman, SpaceX’s senior director of satellite policy, told the FCC its planned “next-generation services for mobile users” would operate with latency below 50 milliseconds, “which is nearly unnoticeable to consumers.”
A modular payload would be added to future Starlink satellites to transmit frequencies in the 2 GHz band under the plan. The constellation currently uses higher frequencies in the Ku and Ka spectrum bands to provide broadband to mainly fixed users.
The 2 GHz MSS system will leverage “existing ground equipment and user terminals,” Goldman said, and “will also add new earth-station equipment to optimize performance for consumers.”
However, the company also pointed to plans to expand its mobile services after last year acquiring Swarm Technologies, a narrowband MSS operator that connects small and portable Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
In June, the FCC granted SpaceX permission to operate earth stations in motion (ESIMs), enabling broadband services on moving aircraft, ships, and motor vehicles that can support SpaceX’s directional antennas.
“While these assets will enable SpaceX to provide unprecedented broadband capacity from its space-based platform, Americans are increasingly demanding connectivity wherever they are whenever they want, and whatever they are doing,” Goldman said.
“In particular, they have grown accustomed to being able to connect using small, hand-held devices that they can carry with them or affix to mobile platforms.”
