The Federal Communications Commission plans to set up a new regulatory framework to facilitate hookups between satellite operators and wireless companies, with the objective of connecting smartphone users in remote or underserved areas of the world.
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, adopted today, follows up on a string of demonstrations and announcements related to satellite-cellular combinations.
A Virginia-based company called Lynk Global has already shown that its satellite-to-smartphone system works, with the FCC’s blessing. Another satellite venture called AST Spacemobile is setting up partnerships with telecom providers around the world. The heavyweights of the telecom industry are in on the idea as well:
- SpaceX and Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile are partnering on a satellite-wireless system that’s due for its initial tests this year.
- Apple has paired up with Globalstar on a satellite-based emergency alert feature for the latest generation of iPhones.
- Amazon’s Project Kuiper is working with Verizon to boost wireless services with future satellite links.
- OneWeb is pursuing similar goals in partnership with AT&T.
In a news release, the FCC said it’s seeking to “establish clear and transparent processes to support supplemental coverage from space.”
“Connecting consumers to essential wireless services where no terrestrial mobile service is available can be life-saving in remote locations and can open up innovative opportunities for consumers and businesses,” the FCC said.
The FCC said its framework would standardize the process through which satellite operators can obtain authorization to transmit data from space via currently licensed, flexible-use spectrum allocated to terrestrial services, in partnership with wireless service providers.
Operators of broadband constellations in low to medium Earth orbit could apply to access terrestrial spectrum “if certain prerequisites are met, including a lease from the terrestrial licensee within a specified geographic area,” the FCC said. “A satellite operator could then serve a wireless provider’s customers should they need connectivity in remote areas, for example, in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert, Lake Michigan, the 100-Mile Wilderness or the Uinta Mountains.”
The FCC also plans to seek comment on how best to support access to emergency response systems like 9-1-1 through space-based satellite coverage. “The new proceeding will also seek to build a record on whether the framework can be extended to other bands, locations and applications,” the FCC said.
In a statement about today’s action, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel referred to a recent case involving a California couple who were found and rescued after a highway accident in a wilderness area, thanks to the satellite emergency alert feature on their iPhone.
“What is so striking about this story is that it demonstrates how bringing satellite and terrestrial wireless capabilities together can accomplish what neither network can do on its own,” Rosenworcel said. “We are starting to see direct satellite-to-smartphone communication move from sci-fi fantasy to real-world prospect.”
She said the proposed regulatory framework would be part of a vision for next-generation telecommunications that she called “the Single Network Future.”
“We can make mobile dead zones a thing of the past,” Rosenworcel said. “But even better, we have an opportunity to bring our spectrum policies into the future and move past the binary choices between mobile spectrum on the one hand or satellite spectrum on the other. That means we can reshape the airwave access debates of old and develop new ways to get more out of our spectrum resources.”
GeekWire reached out to some of the ventures involved in satellite-cellular hybrid services, and some of the sources we contacted said it was just too early to comment on the FCC’s proposal. It wasn’t too early, however, for Charles Miller, Lynk Global’s co-founder and CEO.
“I don’t think it changes anything for us, but it accelerates and smooths the path we are already on. It is not so good for some other companies,” Miller said in an email. “The FCC wants to set up a broader framework and system for ‘market access’ in the U.S., based on what they have learned from Lynk. We convinced the FCC, and a lot of other people in the U.S. government, that ‘sat2phone’ is critical.”
