The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the country’s telecoms regulator, has approved SpaceX’s takeover of three unused AWS-3 wireless licences from Tristar License Group, in an order released on October 21. Drive Tesla reports that SpaceX, operator of the Starlink satellite internet network, intends to use the airwaves for its next-generation direct-to-device system — the service that lets an ordinary smartphone connect straight to a satellite when there is no cell tower nearby.
Key facts
- The three licences cover the 1695–1710 MHz band in parts of eight US states, reaching about 4% of the US population, according to Drive Tesla’s reading of the order.
- Each licence is 5 MHz wide, and the order describes the spectrum as “uplink only” — carrying signals from a device up to the network rather than down to the user.
- No party filed a petition opposing the deal, and the regulator found the risk of harm to competition to be low.
- Drive Tesla says the licences, combined with SpaceX’s EchoStar holdings and those it won in the FCC’s June auction, give it coverage across nearly the entire country in this band.
Why it matters
The order frames the transfer as a way to put otherwise unused spectrum to work and to let SpaceX assemble “a geographically contiguous footprint of AWS-3 spectrum for 5G, direct-to-device, or a hybrid of both,” Drive Tesla reports, quoting the text. The outlet says the approval consolidates SpaceX’s holdings in a single band weeks after the company struck a separate deal for low-band spectrum.
Drive Tesla reports that SpaceX offers direct-to-device service through Starlink Mobile, which recently topped 22 million monthly users, while noting that the order itself refers only to SpaceX’s direct-to-device network and not to the Starlink Mobile brand. Readers tracking that service can see Starlink Mobile’s first year of phone connections.
The conditions attached
The approval is not unconditional. Drive Tesla reports that instead of the normal obligation to build terrestrial towers, SpaceX must meet the same satellite buildout conditions that apply to its EchoStar AWS-3 licences: demonstrating steadily improving uplink service over 90% of each licence area, with the timeline beginning on November 30, 2027. If SpaceX misses the final target, it loses the licences and cannot get them back, the outlet says.
How Tristar’s plan unravelled
Tristar had intended to use the licences alongside the 5G network of EchoStar, the US satellite and wireless operator, according to Drive Tesla. That plan collapsed once EchoStar handed its own AWS-3 spectrum to SpaceX. With the licences still unbuilt and Tristar unable to meet the renewal standard for reasons outside its control, Drive Tesla says they would normally have returned to the FCC to be auctioned again at some point.
Where the spectrum fits
The AWS-3 airwaves feed a direct-to-device constellation the FCC cleared in a separate decision, covered here in the FCC’s approval of 15,000 Starlink satellites for phone service. Satellite Today dates that grant to October 6 and says the system will provide mobile satellite services using spectrum acquired from EchoStar, plus supplemental coverage from space using wireless spectrum.
A second date circulates for a 15,000-satellite figure, and the two appear to describe different decisions rather than contradict each other. Gadget Review, citing Reuters, says the FCC approved 7,500 additional second-generation Starlink satellites on January 9, 2026, taking the authorised Gen2 total to roughly 15,000 — an expansion of the existing broadband constellation. The October 6 grant described by Satellite Today is for a direct-to-device system that the outlet says is separate from the Starlink broadband constellation, and that is the authorisation the AWS-3 licences support.
SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell recently told investors that pairing the next-generation satellites with the EchoStar spectrum would be “100 times better than what we’ve got right now,” Satellite Today reports, and said service should be provided by the end of next year.
What the order does not settle
Gadget Review is blunt that authorisation to deploy satellites is not a service on a phone plan today, and says actual performance will depend on satellite density, handset compatibility, interference rules and carrier agreements. It notes that US direct-to-cell operations currently run on T-Mobile spectrum and that, according to PCMag, a regulatory waiver reportedly allows SpaceX to provide wireless services through satellites without always requiring a leasing agreement with a terrestrial mobile carrier.
Nothing in the reporting attaches a Starlink price to direct-to-device connectivity; what subscribers pay remains a matter for SpaceX and its carrier partners rather than the regulator. Coverage abroad is a separate question again: these are US licences, and SpaceX needs clearance from each national regulator, a process visible in the spectrum fight now running in Europe.
Sourcing note
The full text of the October 21 order is on file with the FCC and can be retrieved through the commission’s Electronic Comment Filing System. The licence-transfer details and the passages quoted above are as reported by Drive Tesla from that order; no second outlet had published an account of the Tristar transfer at the time of writing, so those specifics rest on a single secondary source.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to SpaceX’s EchoStar-acquired spectrum on November 30, 2027?
Satellite Today reports that SpaceX’s authority over the EchoStar spectrum is conditioned on completing the second step of that transaction, in which licences previously assigned to a trust are transferred to SpaceX — expected on or about November 30, 2027. In the meantime, Satellite Today says, SpaceX may deploy satellites and conduct communications payload testing with EchoStar’s permission.
Which SpaceX spectrum requests did the FCC refuse or postpone?
Satellite Today reports the FCC deferred SpaceX’s request for mobile satellite service operations in the 2020–2025 MHz (Earth-to-space) band in the United States. It also deferred any action on the 20.2–21.2 GHz and 30.0–31.0 GHz bands because of heavy federal use, and Gadget Review says action was deferred on 14,988 further proposed Gen2 spacecraft.
How many satellites does Starlink use for direct-to-device service right now?
Satellite Today reports SpaceX currently offers direct-to-device services from a constellation of around 650 satellites, and that the newly authorised 15,000-satellite system is separate from the Starlink broadband constellation.
What speeds has SpaceX projected for the next-generation service?
Gadget Review, citing PCMag, says SpaceX has described a potential target of up to 150 Mbps per user, and stresses this is a company projection rather than a proven real-world result because the upgraded Gen2 satellites are untested in orbit. Gadget Review adds that the FCC noted the approved constellation could support speeds up to 1 Gbps in certain Starlink use cases, a figure that reflects aggregate constellation capacity rather than one subscriber’s throughput.
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