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Satnews Daily
November 8th, 2018

Forrester Reports: The FCC is About to Rule on "Mega-Constellations"


Journalist Chris Forrester, reporting for the Advanced TV infosite, is revealing that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has a pile of detailed applications from operators looking to launch significant satellite ‘mega-constellations.’


Journalist
Chris Forrester

The FCC will vote on November 15th on applications from a number of would-be operators, and some which are seeking expansion approvals.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has already indicated that November is ‘Space Month’ as far as the FCC is concerned,and is using the month to examine nine projects “to ensure that America leads in the New Space Age, with an emphasis on cutting through the red tape”.

Chairman Pai has already indicated that the FCC would be voting positively on a package of projects to “give the green light to companies seeking to roll out new and expanded services using new non-geostationary satellite constellations”.

Pai added, “Some might say that nine space-related items on the agenda for a monthly meeting is overdoing it. During Space Month, I would instead say that we have dared to boldly go where no FCC has gone before.”

Some key names on the list of the FCC’s manifest includes projects for SpaceX, OneWeb, Telesat, Viasat, LeoSat, Kepler, O3b. Some of the companies named already have approvals in place but are requesting extra capacity.