Satellite broadband firms make headlines as 2021 launches loom
Satellite broadband services took a step forward in recent days with Germany handing over frequencies to SpaceX and rival player OneWeb launching three dozen new satellites.
December 21, 2020
Satellite broadband services took a step forward in recent days with Germany handing over frequencies to SpaceX and rival player OneWeb launching three dozen new satellites.
German telecoms regulator the Bundesnetzagentur on Friday announced it has issued spectrum usage rights to SpaceX for its Starlink satellite system.
The Elon Musk-owned company plans to provide satellite broadband across the world via a network of many thousands of satellites. To date, there are around 1,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, but the firm has secured permission from the FCC for a fleet of 12,000, and that’s just the initial phase of the deployment.
The company has launched a trial satellite broadband service in North America and is aiming for a full launch next year.
Germany will be an important European market for Starlink, since it has a fair-sized addressable market of homes and businesses without high-speed broadband access.
BNetzA has allocated spectrum both for the satellite network and for several earth stations in Germany that effectively function as gateways to the Internet. It did not specify how much spectrum it has awarded Starlink, nor the frequency bands, but confirmed that the initial allocation is for a period of one year only, since it relates to a brand new satellite network; this will enable it to make regulatory adjustments ahead of a longer-term frequency allocation.
“We created the spectrum-related legal framework so that broadband Internet can be provided via satellite in Germany,” said BNetzA president Jochen Homann, in a statement.