FCC Working to Streamline Satellite, Earth Station Licensing for ‘America’s Growing Commercial Space Economy’

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in July will vote on an order that would streamline satellite and earth station licensing processing to remove “outdate regulations” that hamper “America’s growing commercial space economy.”

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr outlined in a release on Tuesday that during its July meeting the agency will consider an order that would modernize its satellite and earth station licensing processes. The reforms aim to create a faster and more predictable “licensing assembly line,” increase space safety, and scrap onerous regulations that hamper the commercial space economy.

During a press conference call on Wednesday, a senior FCC official said the agency has been working to clear the backlog in FCC space licensing. Since Carr took the reins as chairman, the FCC has reduced the backlog by 52 percent over 18 months.

The senior FCC official said Carr seeks to make the United States the best place to build and operate a space company. The order will seek to drastically reduce red tape and boost the expansion of space-based broadband internet.

A senior FCC official said on the call that space-based internet providers such as Starlink or Amazon’s Leo are constantly innovating how to provide faster and more reliable internet, and that the FCC’s order would make it easier to update their licenses to facilitate the innovation in a week or a month.

In June, Breitbart News’s Lucas Nolan reported that the FCC granted Amazon a waiver for its Leo satellite internet project to compete against SpaceX’s Starlink service.

“Waiver serves the public interest by promoting a second large satellite broadband constellation,” the FCC wrote at the time. “At this time, only one operator, SpaceX, is providing broadband to American consumers from low-Earth orbit. Amazon Leo’s service promises to be ‘groundbreaking,’ both in quality of service and affordability for consumers. Amazon Leo has further invested significant resources into meeting its commitments, including more than $10 billion to deploy the system along with investments in physical infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities.”