Starlink’s objections to Dish Network’s 5G plans have received a major boost, with nearly 100,000 users petitioning the FCC in support of Starlink.
SpaceX sounded the alarm over Dish’s plans to use spectrum in the 12GHz band for its 5G rollout. Since SpaceX relies on that spectrum for the downlink from satellite to ground-based terminals, the company says Dish’s plans will result in outages 74% of the time for Starlink customers in the US. Those customers appear to be genuinely concerned, with 95,703 petitioning the FCC at the time of writing.
SpaceX minced no words in its letter to the FCC, saying Dish and wireless firm RS Access were flawed and questioned whether the two companies intentionally misled the FCC with their findings.
As such, SpaceX urges the Commission to investigate whether DISH and RS Access filed intentionally misleading reports. These reports simply cannot be squared with DISH’s own correct representations in December 2019 that “concurrent sharing of spectrum between co-primary 5G and NGSO FSS operations is not viable in the 12 GHz Band.
SpaceX actively recruited its users to petition the FCC, even providing a couple of pre-written forms for users. These forms are why most of the petitions appear to start with one of two opening lines.
Given how hard the FCC has been working to help close the “digital divide” in the US – the gap between the availability and quality of internet access in urban and rural areas – the agency is sure to take note of these petitions.
