US carriers ask the FCC to cut 290 MHz from the satellite spectrum plan
From the Space digest for Oct 25, 2026
What happened: AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile have asked the FCC to drop 290 MHz of 2.5 GHz and 3.45 GHz spectrum from its supplemental coverage from space plan, Shattered reports in coverage published in the early hours of October 25, Eastern. That plan is the regulatory framework that lets satellite operators transmit directly to standard phones.
What's genuinely new: The three largest US mobile carriers are now on the docket as coordinated opposition, a material pushback against a spectrum plan that had so far only moved in SpaceX's favor — the FCC cleared the Starlink Mobile application on October 6 (up to 15,000 next-generation satellites, plus a waiver to serve phones without going through a traditional wireless carrier), and SpaceX separately bought roughly $8 billion of low-band spectrum that Musk called the last critical piece of the spectrum puzzle. Mid-band 2.5 GHz and 3.45 GHz holdings are the workhorse frequencies for carrier 5G ground networks. The filing lands four days before the FCC's scheduled October 29 vote on a direct-to-device spectrum auction.
Watch: The October 29 FCC vote; whether the FCC entertains the carve-out or the carriers escalate (litigation-grade filings, congressional letters); and how the outcome reshapes the Starlink Mobile service plan, whose FAA environmental review is already docketed separately.
Sources Shattered