- FCC Chairman Brendan Carr expressed enthusiasm about direct-to-cell connectivity via satellite
- He seemed to fully support EchoStar's sale of spectrum to SpaceX
- He also indicated that the FCC would work on a regulatory framework for direct-to-cell
When Gary Shapiro, CEO and vice chair of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), interviewed Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr at CES yesterday, he steered clear of asking any lightening-rod questions about Diversity, Equity & Inclusion or the Jimmy Kimmel fiasco. Instead, Shapiro kept the conversation mostly about technology, asking Carr about all the satellite activity in the telecommunications space.
“Right now, we're moving into this new type of technology where we can go direct from a satellite right to a smartphone," Carr said. "There's a lot of things you have to do right as a country to promote that happening here. The U.S. is right now leading the world and is going to continue to in this new direct-to-cell technology.”
There’s been some speculation about Carr's stance on EchoStar agreeing to sell spectrum to SpaceX, the parent company of satellite leader Starlink. But yesterday, Carr seemed to be in full support of that.
Carr said, “Dish just proposed to move a lot of spectrum over into the hands of SpaceX-Starlink, which can be used to enable direct-to-cell technology. Other providers are looking to offer that. I'm really, really optimistic about what that's going to do for connectivity, driving down prices, for competition. But again, that's an area where we're working at the FCC to make sure that the U.S. does lead the way.”
Shapiro asked if there were any barriers to the U.S. leading on satellite. And Carr said there were a couple.
“One, you need to find the spectrum that can be used for direct-to-cell technology, and we're doing some work on that,” he said. “Two is, we haven't really built sort of a full regulatory framework about how direct-to-cell is going to work.”
He said the FCC wants to build a framework that incentivizes investment in D2C satellite connectivity, as opposed to a framework that would disincentivize investment.
“So I think over the course of this year, I think you'll see us start to flesh out more of our vision of a regulatory framework for direct-to-cell that will enable those multi-billion-dollar investments,” said Carr.
Consumer broadband
Although Carr’s comments at CES yesterday were related to satellite D2C connectivity, Carr has also shown enthusiasm for satellite consumer broadband, an area where SpaceX’s Starlink is also dominating.
Currently, SpaceX operates a constellation of approximately 8,800 satellites that serves 9 million subscribers globally. SpaceX now controls roughly 65% of all active satellites.
The main hope for competition in satellite broadband is Amazon Leo. But according to a recent satellite report penned by Recon Analytics Founder Roger Entner, Amazon Leo currently has only 153 satellites in orbit, and it’s supposed to meet an FCC deadline requiring 1,618 satellites in orbit by July 2026 in order to maintain its spectrum licenses.
Perhaps one of the first things Carr’s FCC will have to determine in 2026 is if it’s going to give Amazon Leo an extension on its satellite deployment commitments.
“Amazon faces a mathematical impossibility of deploying over 1,400 satellites in just eight months, wrote Entner. "Amazon [Leo’s] survival now depends entirely on regulatory relief from the FCC rather than operational execution.”