Dish blasts back at SpaceX over 12 GHz claims

As Dish Network prepares to show how it’s meeting its June 14th requirement of offering 5G to 20 percent of the US population, the satellite TV operator is battling new allegations from SpaceX over the 12 GHz band. Dish and SpaceX have been at odds over the 12 GHz band for over a year now. The conflict between the two ratcheted up recently when SpaceX accused Dish of meddling in its attempt to help people in Ukraine. Specifically, “as part of its argument about service to enable mobile platforms in the United States, Dish criticizes SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for responding to the Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister’s request for ideas ‘to keep Starklinks & life-saving services online’ in Ukraine,” SpaceX wrote in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission. “While one can hope that Dish made this condemnation in error, these tactics nonetheless highlight the lengths to which Dish will go so long as the commission inexplicably leaves the 12 GHz proceeding open.” Dish responded June 13 with a filing that cites seven tweets from SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk, most of which have nothing to do with Ukraine and more to do with how Starlink can be used in traditionally hard-to-reach areas and while moving. Dish asserts that SpaceX has been encouraging Starlink users to operate their terminals when moving on planes, boats and recreational vehicles, which it says is against the law in the US, where SpaceX has not received approval from the FCC for Earth Station in Motion (ESIM) operations. SpaceX ignored Dish’s earlier demands that it stop issuing such statements and retract what it already said about using devices in moving vehicles.