The FCC Spent Two Years Making Direct-to-Device Spectrum Exclusive and Expensive. On 6 August It Proposed a Free Lane Beside It.

Watch · The story in brief

What happened

On 6 August 2026 the Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, ET Docket No. 26-169, under the title Unleashing Unlicensed Spectrum for Direct-to-Device. It proposes adding Earth-to-space allocations in 902-928 MHz, 2400-2483.5 MHz and 5725-5850 MHz, three bands already open to unlicensed devices under Part 15, and permitting those transmissions at Part 15 power levels, generally up to 36 dBm or 4 watts EIRP. Together the bands hold more than 225 megahertz.

The NPRM goes further than the uplink. It seeks comment on whether to allow space-to-Earth operations in 5725-5850 MHz or elsewhere, and what allocation changes and technical rules would be needed to prevent harmful interference to authorised services. It asks what licensing framework should attach to any new type of satellite operation. It proposes to clarify that intentional and unintentional radiators complying with Part 15 may operate within the shielded environment of a spacecraft. And it asks about extravehicular activity, spacecraft-to-spacecraft links, and the effect of unintentional emissions from satellites on other satellites and on ground receivers.

The introduction is unusually candid about the money. It cites Novaspace projecting more than $100bn in revenues across D2D and IoT by 2034, more than $40bn moving through the American space economy for D2D in eighteen months, SpaceX acquiring 65 megahertz of D2D spectrum from EchoStar for $19.6bn in 2025, AST's $550m agreement over L-band leased to Ligado, and Amazon and Rocket Lab spending close to $20bn between them on Globalstar and Iridium. It then notes that the Space Bureau recently reaffirmed exclusively held D2D spectrum rights, and proposes the unlicensed lane in the next breath.

The bargain Part 15 makes

Unlicensed is not a discount on licensed spectrum. It is a different deal. A Part 15 device operates on the condition that it causes no harmful interference and accepts any interference it receives, and it must stop if it is told it is causing a problem. There is no protected status to assert and no one to complain to. That bargain is why the bands are free, and it has worked extraordinarily well on the ground.

It has worked because the geometry is forgiving. A terrestrial unlicensed transmitter is low power, close to its receiver, and its interference footprint ends at the horizon or the wall. A transmitter pointed at a satellite has line of sight to a receiver that sees a whole hemisphere at once, and it aggregates with every other such transmitter in view. Four watts is modest on a desk and less modest as a population of millions of devices all illuminating the same spacecraft. The Commission is asking the right questions about this, which is what the comment cycle is for.

Why it matters for dispute formation

The immediate fight is at 2483.5 MHz. The proposed unlicensed band stops precisely where Globalstar's Big LEO downlink starts, and in April the Space Bureau told Globalstar and Iridium that their rights in that band are exclusive. An incumbent that has just won an exclusivity ruling, and is mid-acquisition by Amazon, will read a proposal to energise the adjacent 83.5 megahertz as a direct threat to the thing it was told it owned. Out-of-band emission limits and aggregate interference modelling are the whole argument, and they get made in filings before anyone gets near a court.

The second is a valuation problem dressed as a rulemaking. Buyers have paid extraordinary sums on the premise that D2D spectrum is scarce and exclusive. Nothing in this NPRM takes that away, because unlicensed access carries no protection and cannot support a carrier-grade guarantee. But the existence of a free lane changes the negotiating posture of every party still to transact, and it gives the parties who already paid a strong reason to argue for narrow rules. Expect the comment record to be dominated by the people with the most sunk cost.

The third is the one nobody has run before. If an unlicensed D2D service carries emergency or safety-adjacent traffic, it does so with no right to protection and an obligation to cease on notification of harmful interference. The Commission asks what licensing framework new satellite operations should carry, and that question is where the tension gets resolved. A service that consumers treat as a lifeline, running on spectrum whose defining feature is that it guarantees nothing, is a liability structure waiting to be tested.

Who's exposed

What to watch

• Federal Register publication, which starts the 30-day comment and 60-day reply clocks in ET Docket 26-169.
• Globalstar, Iridium and Amazon filings on out-of-band emissions and aggregate interference at the 2483.5 MHz boundary.
• Whether the Commission pursues space-to-Earth in 5725-5850 MHz, which would turn an uplink proposal into a full unlicensed service.
• What licensing framework, if any, the Commission proposes for a new class of satellite operation, and whether it looks anything like Part 25.
• Equipment authorisation: whether existing certified Part 15 radios can be used for space links or need a new class of approval.