Commissioner Geoffrey Starks Remarks at Open Technology Institute NGSO Satellite Event

As a Commissioner focused so deeply on the digital divide, I’m especially thrilled about what a golden era in commercial space could mean for broadband. New satellite broadband systems promise more choice and better performance for many Americans, including those who live, work, and travel in some the toughest-to-serve places. Making space innovation sustainable is a multidimensional problem. They can even improve the reach of terrestrial broadband networks, through satellite backhaul and, perhaps one day soon, base stations flying in low-Earth orbit. Importantly, these systems are also improving the resilience— and agility—of our broadband infrastructure. They’re empowering first responders, survivors, and governments to ad-hoc more powerful and more secure networks more quickly, sometimes mere moments after disaster strikes. But it begins with focusing on competition as a pillar of our strategy in space—including our strategy on spectrum access. Here's how I think we can sustain a competitive environment:

• First, if we want to attract the investment required to launch, maintain, and upgrade a satellite network, then the satellite spectrum we assign must remain investment-grade. 
• Second, we must aspire to more than just a few non-geostationary orbit broadband systems in orbit. 
• Finally, we must keep looking for ways to promote spectral efficiency in satellite.