SpaceX wins FCC approval for 15,000 Starlink satellites

Elon Musk’s SpaceX just scored a regulatory win that could give Starlink more power to compete with wireless giants Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.

The Federal Communications Commission officially granted SpaceX’s request to deploy and operate 15,000 Starlink satellites to provide direct-to-device connectivity.

Additionally, the FCC waived a rule that requires a leasing arrangement with one or more terrestrial wireless carriers, allowing SpaceX to use its own spectrum for the service. “With this action, SpaceX’s planned deployments will reshape spectrum-based connectivity by improving competition, allowing more consumers more choices in more places to further the Commission’s goal to ‘connect everyone, everywhere to modern communications services,'” the FCC said in its order released Monday.

Still, SpaceX faces skepticism from the carriers it hopes to take on. “We’ve seen no zero discernible impact on our broadband growth from any LEO, low earth orbit satellite provider, including Starlink,” Verizon CEO Dan Schulman said at a Goldman Sachs conference last month.

Schulman added that he does not view satellite as a “viable competitor in the medium and even longer term.”