FCC launches ‘Space Month’ to fast-track satellite licensing and spectrum reforms

TAMPA, Fla. — Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr vowed Oct. 6 to accelerate satellite regulatory reforms, declaring October as “Space Month” at the U.S. regulator to overhaul licensing and spectrum rules amid mounting competition from China.

Speaking at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Apex’s new satellite manufacturing facility in El Segundo, California, Carr outlined two main proposals that the FCC is preparing to vote on:

The first would replace “our bespoke licensing process with a licensing assembly line,” which Carr said would presume straightforward satellite and Earth station applications are in the public interest and eligible for expedited approval.

The second proposal would revise siting rules for Earth stations in the upper microwave bands, known as UMFUS, to enable more intensive use of spectrum and simplify approvals for operators.

“We’ll replace a default-to-no at the agency with a default-to-yes framework,” Carr said. 

Since January, Carr said streamlining efforts have already helped the FCC process half of the Earth station applications that had been pending before the regulator.

He also pointed to an ongoing rulemaking that could free up more than 20,000 megahertz of spectrum for satellite broadband and a review of spectrum-sharing rules between geostationary and non-geostationary systems.

“But even with all these actions we’ve already taken, the Commission’s space regulations are still riddled with backward-looking regulations,” he added.

According to Carr, the FCC’s framework still rests on regulatory technical assumptions that slow growth, databases that cannot process large-scale applications and overly conservative technical rules that restrict coexistence between systems and economic models built for a smaller, less competitive market. 

Together, he said, these outdated practices “throttle the space economy and they prevent space resources from going to their highest and best use. It’s clear to me that more reform is needed.”

Part of Trump Administration’s deregulatory push

The latest proposals follow an Aug. 13 Executive Order signed by President Trump directing federal agencies to remove regulatory barriers for the commercial space industry, including reforms to launch licensing, mission authorization and environmental reviews.

Carr said the FCC’s actions are aligned with the administration’s broader Build America agenda, which seeks to strengthen U.S. leadership in what he described as a Space Race 2.0.

His speech underscored the geopolitical urgency behind the reforms as launches get underway in China for tens of thousands of broadband satellites that would rival U.S.-based Starlink.

“Our main competitor in this Space Race 2.0 is the government of China,” he said. “They have their eyes set on dominating in low Earth orbit, and, frankly, up and down every orbit.

“So I want to be clear about the challenge and the stakes ahead: A world where the government of China is using its space capabilities to control the access that billions of people across the globe have to data and to information would be a less prosperous and far more dangerous world.”

The FCC did not provide more details about the incoming proposals or how they might be affected by the ongoing U.S. government shutdown.

Bridgit Mendler, CEO and co-founder of California-based Northwood Space, which is developing a global network of phased array ground stations, praised the changes despite the lack of specifics. 

“There’s a very good audit going on over there,” Mendler, who is also a former FCC intern, told SpaceNews, supporting efforts to update or remove outdated rules that no longer serve the needs of today’s space industry.

SpaceNews News Editor Dan Robitzski contributed to this article from El Segundo, California.