On November 10, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it had accepted SpaceX subsidiary Starlink Spectrum Holdings' application to acquire 546 paired 800MHz spectrum licenses from Grain Management, formally initiating the public review process. The spectrum covers all 50 U.S. states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, involving up to 14MHz of paired spectrum, covering approximately 100% of the U.S. population. The application was filed on October 9 and still requires final FCC approval. The deadline for public comments is December 1, and the deadline for objections is December 8. 800MHz is low-frequency spectrum, with long propagation distances and strong penetration through buildings, making it suitable for expanding mobile communication coverage, but its capacity is relatively limited. SpaceX plans to use it for Starlink Mobile's terrestrial network and satellite-to-phone service, supplementing existing satellite communication coverage gaps. The company separately applied on October 27 to use the same frequency band for supplementary satellite coverage, which is also pending FCC approval. This move signifies Starlink's expansion from satellite communication services to a space-ground integrated mobile communication network, which will lead to more direct competition with traditional operators such as AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile in the future.
