Advocates Hope Trump Administration Will Welcome Satellite Broadband in BEAD
The satellite industry hopes for a better reception from President Donald Trump's administration than it got under former President Joe Biden concerning satellite broadband as a part of the BEAD program (see 2412130011), Boston Consulting Group’s Mike French said Wednesday. His comments came as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick promised a “rigorous review” of the BEAD program (see 2503050067).
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French and other experts also discussed the importance of the next World Radiocommunication Conference in 2027 to the industry during a Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) webinar on space spectrum.
French said he met with Biden administration officials about BEAD “early on” as part of a group of satellite broadband proponents. “We walked away somewhat stunned at the response we received” and the “unwillingness to consider how satellite communications could play a role,” he said. A rethinking of BEAD could be significant for the satellite industry, French added.
NTIA has already released guidance on how low earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband can be part of BEAD, said Isaiah Wonnenberg, vice president-regulatory affairs at the Commercial Space Federation. “I would like to see that role expanded further.” Satellite broadband is cheaper to build out than fiber, is accessible everywhere and can be rapidly deployed, he said. “LEO satellite broadband is broadband.” The technology “will only improve, and we’ll see greater capacity.”
Karina Perez, director of CCIA’s Space & Spectrum Policy Center, predicted that space issues will figure prominently at the next World Radiocommunication Conference. “Spectrum allocation is complex. It’s not just the FCC and not just NTIA here in the U.S.” -- it requires international coordination, she said.
French noted that at the last conference, in 2023, there was much discussion about LEO issues, teeing up decisions for 2027. Among the biggest issues will be equivalent power flux density limits, he predicted. Studies are looking at whether those allowances can be changed in a way that will allow LEO systems “to provide more service out of the spectrum allocations.”
From the U.S. perspective, LEO issues are likely to be “front of mind,” French said: “This is where I see the market. … This is where I see U.S. leadership.”
Protecting current satellite allocations and identifying new ones are likely to be another significant issue, Wonnenberg said: Safeguarding the spectrum used by commercial remote sensing satellites for downlinks “is of pressing concern.” The space industry is important to U.S. national security and science goals, Wonnenberg noted. “The LEO satellite industry must have readily available spectrum.”
Madeleine Chang, the Satellite Industry Association's director-policy, said streamlining space regulation and licensing is also important and appears to be a goal of new FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and new Space Bureau Chief Jay Schwarz. A lot of regulations were approved at a time when most satellites were in geostationary orbit, operated by the military and “not as prevalent as they are today,” she said.