Senate committee advances FCC satellite licensing bill after changes

SAN FRANCISCO — The Senate Commerce Committee approved a bill intended to streamline satellite licensing after revising provisions related to automatic approval of applications.

The committee favorably reported the amended Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act during a brief markup session Feb. 12. The measure, along with several other bills, was advanced by voice vote without discussion.

The committee had previously taken up the bill during a Feb. 3 markup but delayed a vote after Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the committee’s ranking member, raised concerns about the bill’s “deemed granted” provision. That language would have automatically approved satellite license applications if the Federal Communications Commission did not act within one year, with limited options for deadline extensions of up to 180 days.

At the earlier markup, Cantwell warned the provision could allow automatic approval of massive satellite constellations, such as SpaceX’s proposed orbital data center system, if the FCC failed to act.

“Literally, the FCC could fail to take any action on this, and within one and a half years, one million satellites would be approved,” she said.

An amended version of the bill, offered by Cantwell and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the committee’s chairman and a sponsor of the original legislation, modifies the “deemed granted” language and could limit which applications qualify for automatic approval.

Under the revised bill, the FCC would be required to develop eligibility criteria for automatic approval within two years of enactment. In doing so, the agency must consider factors including constellation size, orbital shell, spectrum bands and the potential for harmful interference to incumbent users. The FCC could set a satellite threshold above which applications would not qualify for deemed-granted treatment.

The commission also must determine whether systems with “substantially novel or unique architectures” should be eligible. Applications involving spectrum reserved for federal use, or spectrum shared between federal and nonfederal users, would not qualify for automatic approval.

The revised bill also establishes a 15-business-day period after the deemed-granted deadline is triggered during which the FCC may formally approve or deny the application, providing a final opportunity for agency action.

“I’m glad we were able to come to an agreement that improves satellite approval processes so the U.S. can compete aggressively. But no language that allows the FCC to ignore objections and let applications be approved by default is in the bill,” Cantwell said in a statement after the committee vote, citing concerns about potential interference with defense, weather and aviation systems.

The original bill had strong support from industry groups that have advocated streamlining FCC licensing to help U.S. companies remain competitive.

The FCC has also taken steps to accelerate its licensing process. Speaking at the SmallSat Symposium on Feb. 11, Jay Schwarz, chief of the FCC’s Space Bureau, discussed efforts to create a “licensing assembly line” for applications that would include “shot clocks,” or internal deadlines for agency action.

“We want to make sure innovators can get the licenses they need in a timely and predictable fashion,” he said.