Dish vs Starlink: Who Will Win The 12GHz Battle with FCC

Dish vs Starlink: Who Will Win The 12GHz Battle with FCC

SpaceX’s satellite internet service Starlink uses 12GHz band radio spectrum to transmit high-speed broadband to users on the ground. Starlink now fears Dish’s proposal to tap the 12GHz spectrum for 5G purposes risks making Starlink “unusable” due to the radio interference that’ll be caused. According to Starlink, if the FCC allows Dish Network to build a 5G network using the 12GHz band, there won’t be a software patch capable of salvaging Starlink. 

The regulatory battle has led both sides to submit studies and accuse each other of misleading the FCC on the proceedings.

“There is no easy fix. If the FCC were to go the wrong way, there is not like a software fix, another spectrum band,” said David Goldman, SpaceX’s senior director for satellite policy. Goldman maintains Dish’s 12GHz 5G plan would allegedly trigger outages for most Starlink subscribers on the ground.

Dish and its allies in the 5G for 12GHz coalition, including Dell Technologies, disagree. 

“They (SpaceX) are now falsely telling customers and the public that coexistence is not possible in the band among Starlink and 5G services,” Dish wrote in a filing to the FCC earlier this month. 

Dish has argued both technologies can co-exist to supply users with high-speed connectivity, and have questioned why Starlink can’t use spectrum outside the 12GHz band for downlinking purposes.  

Beyond regulatory methods, Starlink has invoked its consumer based to pressure the FCC to act in its favor. The company petitioned Starlink users across the country to contact the US regulator about rejecting Dish’s proposal to use the 12GHz spectrum. The effort resulted in more than 90,000 users sending messages to the FCC in support of Starlink.  

If the FCC does not act, the biggest loser here would be the consumers, especially those in rural areas, who are in desperate need of high speed broaband in place like schools and hospitals.