SpaceX buys 800 MHz spectrum for Starlink Mobile
SpaceX has agreed to buy a nationwide 800 MHz low-band spectrum portfolio, adding in-building coverage to Starlink Mobile’s satellite-and-terrestrial plan to become a major US mobile carrier.
SpaceX announced an agreement to acquire a nationwide low-band spectrum license portfolio of up to 14 MHz of paired spectrum in the 800 MHz band. The company did not name the seller or disclose a price. The deal still needs final FCC approval.
As we reported earlier, SpaceX had already bought EchoStar spectrum for Starlink phones. SpaceX says its global 2 GHz mid-band spectrum will supply high-bandwidth capacity in the US. The new low-band holdings are meant to be a coverage layer: the signal can get through walls and other obstacles and reach devices inside buildings, which satellite-to-phone service handles poorly. SpaceX says most existing phones already support this "underused" band.
After approval, SpaceX plans a mixed design that pairs its satellite-to-mobile constellation with terrestrial deployment. It says this would make Starlink Mobile the first operator to deploy both satellite and terrestrial spectrum. The announcement gives no details on the terrestrial build, such as timing, number of sites or partners.
Separately, SpaceX said the FCC approved its Gen2 Starlink Mobile constellation application this week. The approval lets SpaceX launch 15,000 satellites optimized for 2 GHz spectrum globally. SpaceX says the V2 satellites will deliver more than 100 times the bandwidth of the current generation to unmodified devices. The FCC also authorized the full range of Ka, V, E and W backhaul bands used by Starlink's V3 broadband satellites, so they can operate with the existing gateway network.