House Commerce Leaders Bow Draft Satellite Licensing Revamp Bills
House Commerce Committee leaders proposed the draft Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act and Secure Space Act Friday in a bid to revamp the FCC's low-earth orbit satellite licensing rules. STSA would require the FCC to issue “specific performance requirements” for…
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satellite licensees to meet on space safety and orbital debris, including limits on the amount of debris a licensee releases “in a planned manner” and limits on the probability a space station will become a debris source, experience an accidental explosion or collide with another station. The measure would require the FCC to determine a satellite licensee’s operations won’t cause harmful interference with other licensees, won’t “diminish the efficiency” of other services’ spectrum use and won’t affect competition in the satellite space. Licenses granted under the measure would be required to share spectrum with other licensees and “coordinate in good faith with any other licensee of the spectrum band.” The Secure Space Act would bar the FCC from granting satellite licenses to any entity the FCC deems a national security risk under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act. “American companies are at the forefront of developing and deploying broadband and other advanced communications services using satellite technologies, which is revolutionizing the communications marketplace as we know it,” said House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. “We must streamline our regulatory processes to usher in a new era of American innovation and investment in this growing sector, particularly as our economic competitors like China race to dominate this industry, and must ensure our laws and regulations fully protect the public.” The draft bills “are an important step towards developing a bipartisan solution,” the lawmakers said. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr swiftly praised the draft bills. "The final frontier is home to an emerging constellation of satellites that are offering high-speed Internet services," he said. "We need to ensure that America continues to attract the jobs and investments that flow from these innovative operations." The draft House Commerce bills "would strengthen America’s space-based leadership by further streamlining the licensing process and advancing the security of satellite systems," he said.