On June 28, SpaceX emailed Starlink customers asking them to contact the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to support its fight against Dish Network over radio frequencies that are used by the Starlink satellite broadband system. The FCC is in charge of deciding what companies use the frequencies to avoid signals from interfering with one another. SpaceX says Dish wants to take over 12-gigahertz (GHz) band, which is the frequency used for multiple broadband communications companies. Dish is mainly known as a satellite TV broadcast provider, the company plans to provide 5G mobile service using the 12GHz spectrum. Dish previously claimed that SpaceX’s plans to enable Starlink Internet service aboard moving vehicles would interfere with its TV broadcast service.
“Today we ask for your support in ending a lobbying campaign that threatens to make Starlink unusable for you and the vast majority of our American customers,” states the SpaceX email to customers. "DISH Network has been hoarding spectrum for years as a strategy for preventing open and fair competition. Most recently, DISH has been attempting to claim new rights to the 12 GHz band, which is the spectrum you currently use to download content with Starlink," the company said, "Despite technical studies dating back as far as 2016 that refute the basis of their claims, DISH has employed paid lobbyists who are attempting to mislead the FCC with faulty analysis in hopes of obscuring the truth. In reality, if DISH gets their way, Starlink customers will experience harmful interference more than 77% of the time and total outage of service 74% of the time, rendering Starlink unusable for most Americans. The FCC and your members of Congress have the power to stop this effort, but they need to hear from you," wrote SpaceX to its customers.
SpaceX also provides a link with a pre-written letter so that Starlink customers and supporters can write emails go U.S. senators, state representatives, and the FCC. It reads: “I am writing to express strong opposition to the FCC proposed rule considering changes to the 12 GHz frequency band. The FCC should reject efforts to repurpose and change the rules relating to this spectrum that is used by satellite operators to provide high-speed broadband and other services in my community and throughout the country.” Link: Don't Let DISH Disable Your Internet
To date, SpaceX has launched about 2,700 Starlink satellites into orbit that provide high-speed internet service to over 500,000 users. The satellites in Low Earth Orbit communicate with ground stations globally and beam data directly to user terminal antennas, even to the most remote places on Earth. The company is manufacturing 30,000 user antennas per week in an effort to fulfill their global pre-orders. Visit SpaceX's official website Starlink.com for more information.
Featured Image Source: SpaceX
About the Author
Evelyn Janeidy Arevalo
Evelyn J. Arevalo joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover news as a Space Journalist and SpaceX Starbase Texas Correspondent. Evelyn is specialized in rocketry and space exploration. The main topics she covers are SpaceX and NASA.
