SpaceX: There's No Software Fix To Resolve 12GHz Spat With Dish on Starlink

pcmag.com:

There won’t be a software patch capable of salvaging Starlink if the FCC allows Dish Network to build a 5G network using the 12GHz band, according to a SpaceX executive.

“There is no easy fix. If the FCC were to go the wrong way, there is not like a software fix, another spectrum band,” said David Goldman, SpaceX’s senior director for satellite policy.  

“This equipment is all dependent on this band. There is not an easy out,” he added. 

Goldman made the statement in a rare SpaceX briefing with journalists on Tuesday. He did so as the company has embarked on an all-out effort to convince the FCC to reject Dish’s proposal to tap the 12GHz band for a cellular network. 

SpaceX’s satellite internet service Starlink also uses the same radio spectrum to transmit high-speed broadband to users on the ground. The company now fears Dish’s proposal to tap the 12GHz spectrum for 5G purposes risks making Starlink “unusable” due to the radio interference that’ll be caused. 

The regulatory battle has led both sides to submit studies and accuse each other of misleading the FCC on the proceedings. However, Goldman maintains Dish’s 12GHz 5G plan would allegedly trigger outages for most Starlink subscribers on the ground.

The problem is that Dish is proposing using the 12GHz spectrum near the company’s Starlink dishes, which are highly sensitive to radio spectrum operating in the same band. “This isn’t a situation where there would be a software patch. This would be really, extremely detrimental to the outcome if the FCC went the wrong way,” Goldman said. 

Dish and its allies in the 5G for 12GHz coalition(Opens in a new window), including Dell Technologies, disagree. They argue both technologies can co-exist to supply users with high-speed