The Next Spectrum Battle May be Between AT&T/AST and T-Mobile/SpaceX

The same day that SpaceX scored a big win on the proper use of spectrum, it became embroiled in a new fight over appropriate spectrum use. The new fight is with AT&T over SpaceX’s plans to enable calls from T-Mobile cellphones via SpaceX satellites. That type of service is called supplemental coverage from space (SCS) and is a market AT&T also is pursuing via a deal with satellite operator AST. In a filing with the Federal Communications Commission, AT&T expresses concern that the planned T-Mobile/SpaceX service, which will use spectrum in the PCS G-block, could interfere with AT&T cellphone operations in the adjacent PCS C-block. AT&T’s filing was made the same day that the FCC declined to allow two-way mobile operations between 12.2 GHz and 12.7 GHz out of concerns that doing so would interfere with SpaceX Starlink satellite broadband service that also operates in the band. The FCC is still in the process of determining how to regulate SCS service.