AT&T Moves to Disrupt Test of SpaceX's Starlink Cellular Service

pcmag.com:

SpaceX is hoping to kick off a satellite test for its Starlink cellular service later this year, but AT&T and a trade association are trying to block the effort. 

SpaceX's main application to offer the service is still moving through the FCC regulatory process. But earlier this month, the company filed a “special temporary authority (STA)" application to launch and start testing a second-generation Starlink satellite as soon as Dec. 1.

The satellite would be equipped with “direct-to-cellular communications payloads to connect unmodified cellular phones directly to SpaceX Gen2 satellites,” the application says. 

The test would involve beaming data to smartphones using T-Mobile’s “PCS G-Block” radio spectrum. "The STA would also allow SpaceX to confirm the operational status of its direct-to-cell satellites and their ability to communicate with cell phones immediately upon insertion, rather than waiting weeks while the satellites complete orbit raising to ensure proper functioning," SpaceX added.

SpaceX originally filed the STA on Oct. 2. But the application has since encountered resistance from AT&T and the Rural Wireless Association, which both lodged regulatory complaints with the FCC last week over the test. 

In May, both AT&T and the Rural Wireless Association told the FCC that SpaceX needs to supply more technical details about the Starlink cellular service and prove the technology won’t cause interference with other carriers. 

AT&T now argues that SpaceX is trying to conduct the Starlink cellular test under the wrong regulatory process. “Instead, the proper venue to authorize the novel testing SpaceX seeks is through an experimental license from the Office of Engineering and Technology,” the carrier wrote in its