AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile ask FCC to drop two bands from Starlink Mobile plan

what happened

AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, through their trade group CTIA, met with the offices of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioners Anna Gomez and Olivia Trusty on October 20 to ask the FCC to strip the 2.5 GHz and 3.45 GHz bands, accounting for 290 MHz, from its draft Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS) order. The FCC's October 8 draft notice, GN Docket Nos. 26-281 and 23-65, proposes making 482 megahertz of additional spectrum available for satellite-to-phone service and expanding SCS-eligible bands from five to 13, with a vote set for the Commission's October 29 Open Meeting, per the FCC's own fact sheet. CTIA argued that opening the two contested bands to secondary satellite service "raises fundamental technical and interference challenges that remain unresolved" and that more than 300 million users rely on them; T-Mobile separately argued its 5G service would degrade if a satellite used the same spectrum passing overhead, per TeslaNorth and SSBCrack News. CTIA followed up with a formal 10-page joint petition filed Oct. 22 that quantified the contested bands at 290 MHz, or roughly 60% of the FCC's full 482 MHz proposal, cited T-Mobile interference modeling showing a single high-power device-to-satellite handset could raise the uplink noise floor at a terrestrial cell site one to three miles away, and argued the FCC should apply the same terrestrial-buildout conditions to satellite operators that it has waived for SpaceX, per Tech Times and SatNews. The FCC's Oct. 29 Open Meeting vote did not grant the spectrum outright: the Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, opening a 60-day formal comment period rather than issuing a final order, so the carriers' request to strip the 2.5 GHz and 3.45 GHz bands remains undecided. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said "the direct-to-device proposal will continue to leverage this cutting-edge technology to eliminate cellphone dead zones and deliver service directly from next-generation satellite constellations to smartphones," per Teslarati and SatNews. The same meeting separately teed up an auction of 25 MHz of mid-band spectrum, in the 1675-1695 MHz and 2020-2025 MHz bands, earmarked for direct-to-device satellite services. On October 28, SpaceX filed FCC comments arguing that "the misplaced desire to harm a competitor has led many incumbents to oppose modernized rules that would bring direct-to-cell service to underserved border communities," saying T-Mobile's proposed protection standards would produce 400-kilometer buffers that would disenfranchise millions from direct-to-cell service, and calling AFTRCC "purely a lobbying organization whose mission is to protect legacy companies" that should be disregarded on its aeronautical-telemetry power-limit proposals, per TeslaNorth.

why it matters

The FCC's Oct. 29 vote opened formal rulemaking rather than deciding the matter, so SpaceX's Starlink Mobile and rivals such as AST SpaceMobile won't know whether they gain access to the contested 290 MHz, or the fuller 482 MHz pool, until the 60-day comment period runs and the Commission issues a final order. Either outcome will eventually set the spectrum terms the whole direct-to-device industry, carriers and satellite operators alike, builds on for years.

signal-to-noise

quick facts

Companies

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, SpaceX

Category

regulatory

Impact

notable

SNR

3 / 5

Event date

2026-10-20

Published

2026-10-25 05:37 UTC