SpaceX’s mission to improve Starlink Cellular (aka Starlink Direct-to-Cell) by operating beyond normal radio frequency parameters gets pushback from Europe.
Several phone network operators and service providers in Europe wrote to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) dissuading the regulatory agency from supporting any requests regarding the relaxation of “safeguards to protect licensed terrestrial mobile network operators and their users from harmful interference.”
“In particular, the FCC must reject any effort to relax its aggregate Out-of-Band-Emission (“OOBE”) limit of -120 dBW/m2 /MHz (the “-120 limit”). The -120 limit represents the bare minimum level of protection that mobile network operators require from spurious emissions – in low-band (<1 GHz) and in mid-band (1-2 GHz) spectrum – if they are to have any assurance that they can continue to deliver the terrestrial service levels committed to in each market,” said the group of European mobile network operators and service providers,” the European operators wrote in their letter to the FCC.
The European group supports its argument by mentioning the International Telecommunications Union’s ITU radio regulations. The ITU is a United Nations agency that imposes a limit on new-generation, non-geostationary satellites like Starlink. The ITU limit ensures that low-orbit satellite transmissions do not interfere with the operation of classic geostationary satellites.
Elon Musk has spoken out against the ITU’s limit on low-orbit satellites and called out the FCC for following “antiquated” rules. In July, SpaceX started conducting Starlink tests in Romania to demonstrate that operating beyond the ITU’s limit will not interfere with classic, geostationary satellites.
Over the summer, SpaceX submitted a waiver to the FCC, requesting that Starlink be allowed to operate beyond normal radio frequency parameters. AT&T and Verizon responded to SpaceX’s waiver, asking the FCC to reject the company’s request.
Read the European Group’s letter to the FCC below.
SpaceX’s Mission to Improve Starlink Gets Pushback From Europe by Maria Merano on Scribd
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