FCC approves new rules for satellite-direct-to-phone communications

FCC commissioners today voted unanimously to approve new rules designed to let commercial wireless carriers more easily partner with satellite companies to provide supplemental coverage from space (SCS) services that could eliminate coverage gaps when users are outside.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel outlined the importance of SCS—also known as satellite-direct-to-phone technology—which allows users to maintain LTE or 5G communications when outside a carrier’s terrestrial network by accessing a satellite, which many industry experts have compared to a cell tower in space.

“In this decision, … we bring satellite and wireless communications together,” Rosenworcel said during the FCC meeting, which was webcast. “We do this because the convergence can accomplish more than either network can do on its own. Together, they can end dead zones. Together, it means that—when disaster strikes and destroys ground-based systems—we’re going to have a backup in space.”

And SCS services can become useful quickly, because they work with existing smart devices and do not require new spectrum that must be cleared and auctioned, according to Rosenworcel.

“We’ve developed a framework that allows a satellite operator to partner with a terrestrial mobile carrier to get access to their terrestrial spectrum,” Rosenworcel said. “Then, then satellite system can provide service directly to the subscribers of the wireless carrier in the areas where the carrier lacks coverage.

“So, there is no need to wait for new spectrum or a new generation of devices. Satellite operators and their carrier collaborators can use terrestrial spectrum that is already in the market to bring these services to the phones we already have today.”

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr echoed this sentiment.

“We have long had the capacity from space to get high-speed to get Internet service directly to a standalone dish,” Carr said during the FCC meeting. “We’ve also had the ability to go directly to the handset historically … with low-bandwidth technologies. The ability to unlock the capacity to blend the two of them and high-speed service directly to a smartphone device is a really exciting technology development, and I am glad we are moving forward with this decision.”

Of course, the expanded geographic connectivity provided by SCS service promises to have significant implications for public safety and other critical-communications users. In addition to potentially making smart devices usable in locations outside of terrestrial-network coverage, SCS is expected to let consumers call 911 to get emergency help from even remote areas that are beyond a carrier’s terrestrial footprint—something the new rules note.

“The rules also establish, on an interim basis, a requirement that terrestrial providers must route all SCS 911 calls to a Public Safety Answering Point using either location-based routing or an emergency call center,” according to an FCC press release on the matter. “The Commission also adopted a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to seek further comment on this and other critical public-safety issues to ensure these services adequately meet consumers’ needs and expectations for critical services.”

SCS capability has been one of the hottest topics in the critical-communications sector in recent years, with industry analysts and users noting the potential for making LTE and 5G devices much more reliable in mission-critical and business-critical scenarios, citing the potential for expanded outdoor coverage and redundant satellite connectivity.

In addition, the business model employed by AST SpaceMobile, Lynk and SpaceX—partnering with commercial wireless carriers, instead of competing against them—has many industry analysts believing that the economics associated with the LEO-based services could be more economically sustainable than previous satellite services.

Officials for AST SpaceMobile and Lynk applauded the FCC’s action today.

“Today’s FCC ruling is truly a huge win for the USA, the USA consumers, and the entire industry,” AST SpaceMobile CEO and founder Abel Avellan said in a prepared statement provided to IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “We have worked with the FCC for many years and supported the ongoing evolution of the satellite regulatory framework that will support the commercialization of standards-based direct-to-device services to everyday smartphones.

“The fact that we now have a framework that includes premium low-band spectrum is a huge step in the right direction. Additionally, the ruling is supportive of our plans to deploy with AT&T in an expedited way. Satellite direct-to-device is here to stay.”

All three co-founders for Lynk—a LEO satellite provider that is scheduled to launch SCS service with Rogers Communications in Canada later this year—expressed similar optimism about the FCC vote and for the future of satellite-direct-to-phone (sat2phone) technology.

“This is a good news story that highlights America’s continued role in developing and delivering technology that makes a difference in the lives of people around the world,” Lynk CEO and co-founder Charles Miller said in a prepared statement. “We believe sat2phone technology has the potential to help pull the next billion people out of poverty by extending affordable access to mobile connectivity around the globe.”

Lynk CTO and co-founder Tyghe Speidel noted some of the key challenges the company had to overcome to make the SCS vision a reality.

“By April of 2017, we solved three key problems—showing the link budgets could close, figuring out how cellular spectrum could be used by satellites without interference to terrestrial networks, and developing our patented solution that allowed satellites to connect directly to unmodified, standard mobile phones,” Speidel said in a prepared statement.

Lynk COO and co-founder Margo Deckard reflected on the fact that the FCC in 2019 gave Lynk an experimental license that allowed it to prove that SCS could work in a real-world environment, without creating harmful interference.

“The FCC deserves credit for giving us a chance, and for creating a process to safely encourage innovation,” Deckard said in a prepared statement. “After we proved it, we were granted what we believe to be the world’s first commercial sat2phone license. The Commission decided sat2phone was so promising that it should create a larger framework—which they call ‘Supplemental Coverage from Space’—to support growth of the sat2phone industry and services in the United States.”