SpaceX Internet Service Gets Win

"Federal authorities gave SpaceX permission to link a range of vehicles to its satellite-internet service, a win for the company as it seeks to broaden its customer base.

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday allowed the Elon Musk-led company to begin operating Starlink, as its internet unit is called, on everything from airplanes and boats to recreational vehicles, according to an order from the FCC. The authorization covers consumer and business vehicles.

Permitting such uses for Starlink "will expand the range of broadband capabilities to meet the growing user demands that now require connectivity while on the move," the FCC said in the order.

A spokesman for Space Exploration Technologies Corp., the formal name for the Hawthorne, Calif., company, didn't respond to a request for comment.

SpaceX has been building a fleet of Starlink satellites in orbits relatively close to Earth, blasting batches of them into space on its Falcon 9 rockets. The service is meant to provide users with high-speed internet connections with few delays and had more than 400,000 subscribers around the world as of June, according to a recent presentation the company filed with the FCC.

In addition to targeting households, SpaceX has been trying to draw business clients to Starlink. Delta Air Lines Inc. has tested the service, while Hawaiian Airlines in April said it would add Starlink service to planes flying routes between the Hawaiian islands and the continental U.S. and other overseas locations.

Competitors are also working to bolster their own offerings and keep customers in their fold. Viasat Inc., another satellite-internet provider, said this spring that Southwest Airlines Co. elected to use its in-flight Wi-Fi system on new aircraft beginning this fall. Amazon.com Inc. plans to have thousands of satellites launched to reach a range of potential customers.

The FCC placed conditions on SpaceX's ability to offer Starlink service to moving vehicles. The company's operations in a certain spectrum band for vehicles must accept interference from current and future users of those airwaves and can't cause harmful interference to other services, the FCC order said.

SpaceX has fought other telecom companies over the FCC's plan for rules governing the spectrum band, which sits in frequencies above 12 gigahertz. Rival telecom company Dish Network Corp. has urged the commission to limit Starlink's service to vehicles in motion, to protect its plans for ground-based wireless service.

Dish's public-policy chief, Jeffrey Blum, said the company was still reviewing Thursday's FCC order.

He said Dish was pleased that federal officials ensured Starlink's service for vehicles "has to accept any and all interference from future 5G operations and that they must clearly disclose such limitations to their customers."" [1]

1. SpaceX Internet Service Gets Win
Maidenberg, Micah; FitzGerald, Drew. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 01 July 2022: B.1.