AT&T submitted some objections Thursday with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about T-Mobile and Starlink owner SpaceX’s plans to connect cellphones to Starlink satellites (through Ars Technica).
In the filing, AT&T argues that SCS, or “supplemental coverage from space,” should not impede terrestrial wireless services and that the FCC should “prioritize” protecting terrestrial networks, and that the proposals from T-Mobile and SpaceX are insufficient. contain information about possible interference. “Applicants’ technical screenings are woefully inadequate with respect to the risk of harmful interference from their planned SCS deployments,” AT&T said. “The applications from SpaceX and T-Mobile are nowhere near the threshold for waiver and cannot be granted in their current state.”
AT&T’s filing was part of a call for comment from the FCC about T-Mobile and SpaceX’s plans for satellite-to-mobile service, which were announced in August 2022. The idea is that you can connect to SpaceX’s second-generation Starlink satellites will start this year from your mobile phone to, for example, send SMS or MMS messages.
The service from T-Mobile and SpaceX is not expected to launch in beta until sometime before the end of this year. But if the FCC throws up roadblocks to this call for comment, we may have to wait even longer.
