Direct-to-Device Rules: SpaceX’s 15,000-Satellite Licence and the FCC’s Plan to Rewrite SCS

Direct-to-device (D2D) is the industry term for satellites that talk straight to ordinary phones and other consumer devices, with no dish and no special handset. In October 2026 US regulation of it moved twice in three days. The FCC’s Space Bureau and Wireless Telecommunications Bureau licensed the largest D2D constellation yet proposed, and the Commission published a draft that would rebuild the 2024 rules on which most D2D services in the United States now run.

The draft is not yet law. It is on the tentative agenda for the FCC’s 29 October 2026 open meeting and may change before the vote. The SpaceX authorisation, by contrast, is a final bureau-level grant, and it shows what the new rules would look like in practice, because most of what the draft proposes has already been granted to SpaceX and others by waiver.

Three routes to the phone

The FCC recognises three legal routes for D2D. The first is Supplemental Coverage from Space, where a satellite operator uses a mobile network’s terrestrial spectrum. The second is the Mobile-Satellite Service (MSS), using bands allocated internationally to satellites. The third, use of unlicensed spectrum, was proposed in a separate notice published on 8 September 2026, with comments due on 9 November 2026.

The SCS framework dates from the Report and Order adopted on 14 March 2024 (FCC 24-28), published in the Federal Register on 30 April 2024. It created a secondary MSS allocation in five bands: 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz Cellular, Broadband PCS and the AWS-H Block. To use it, a satellite operator had to lease spectrum from terrestrial licensees that together held every co-channel licence across a “geographically independent area” (GIA), such as the contiguous United States.

The draft is candid about how that has worked. The bureaus have granted four SCS authorisations, and every one relies on waivers: of the GIA rule, of the out-of-band emission limit, of device certification rules and, for SpaceX, of the lease requirement itself.

SpaceX’s D2D licence of 6 October

The Authorization and Order (DA 26-1078), adopted and released on 6 October 2026, grants in part and defers in part SpaceX’s application for what it calls the SpaceX D2D Constellation: 15,000 non-geostationary satellites in nine shells between 326 km and 335 km, at inclinations from 26 to 96.87 degrees. The satellites will provide SCS and MSS in the United States, MSS and direct-to-cell service abroad, and Ka-, V-, E- and W-band links for backhaul and telemetry, tracking and command.

The spectrum largely comes from EchoStar. On 12 May 2026 the bureaus approved the assignment (DA 26-471) of roughly 65 megahertz of mid-band spectrum, the AWS-4, AWS-H Block and unpaired AWS-3 licences, to SpaceX through a two-step transaction. Inside the United States the grant covers SCS in 1695-1710 MHz (uplink), the PCS G Block and the AWS-H Block, and MSS downlinks in the 2 GHz MSS bands. SpaceX’s request to use 2020-2025 MHz was deferred.

Several waivers carry the weight. Because SpaceX holds the terrestrial licences itself, the bureaus waived the rule requiring an SCS lease for the AWS-3 and AWS-H bands, but made that waiver non-transferable. They waived the GIA requirement and the rule that AWS-3 mobiles transmit only under control of a base station, subject to coordination with federal users in protection zones. They also allowed aggregate out-of-band emissions of -110.6 dBW/m2/MHz next to SpaceX’s downlinks, against the -120 dBW/m2/MHz in the rules.

The conditions are just as useful to read. SpaceX may not start commercial operations in the EchoStar bands until the second step of that transaction closes. It must post a surety bond by 4 November 2026, launch half the constellation by 7 October 2032 and the rest by 7 October 2035, and file semi-annual reports on conjunction events, satellites taken out of service and re-entries. The licence term is 15 years from the first satellite reaching orbit. Globalstar, Viasat and Iridium filed petitions to deny. On optical astronomy, the bureaus said the FCC’s rules do not address it, so it falls outside their review, a stance that astronomy groups have struggled to dislodge, as the DarkSky litigation showed. SpaceX must still keep its own commitments on satellite brightness.

What the 29 October draft would change

The draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (GN Docket Nos. 26-281 and 23-65), dated 8 October, makes six main proposals.

First, more spectrum. SCS would be allowed in 13 bands, the existing five plus eight new ones: 800 MHz ESMR, 900 MHz, 1.4 GHz, 1670-1675 MHz, AWS-1, AWS-3, 2.5 GHz (2500-2690 MHz) and 3.45 GHz (3450-3550 MHz). That adds 482 megahertz to the 344 megahertz already in the framework. The allocation would stay secondary, and the AWS-4/2 GHz MSS band would be left alone because it can already support D2D.

Second, no GIA. An applicant would draw its own licence area, which need not be contiguous or follow terrestrial licence boundaries, and would receive a single SCS licence per band covering that area. It could later expand the area if it signs further agreements.

Third, no lease. To qualify, the satellite operator would certify either that it has a coexistence agreement with the terrestrial licensees covering the whole area, or that it holds the terrestrial licences itself. The terms would not have to be filed. If an agreement ends, the operator would have to stop serving that part of its area and modify its licence.

Fourth, a boundary limit. Without the GIA buffer, neighbouring operators could share a channel across a line on the map. The draft proposes an aggregate power flux-density limit of -76 dBm/m2/MHz at every SCS licence boundary, including international borders, with an option to agree different limits privately.

Fifth, end-user devices operating under the new SCS rules would be licensed by rule as earth stations, and the draft proposes allowing drones and other uncrewed aircraft to use SCS in bands without airborne restrictions.

Sixth, transition. The four existing SCS licensees would have to comply with the new rules once they take effect, and the Commission asks whether a transition period is needed.

The draft also asks about the interim 911 rules for SCS, temporary authority to serve outside a licence area in disasters (it cites the emergency SCS authority granted during the January 2025 Southern California wildfires), and possible effects on radio astronomy. One limit is fixed by treaty: where SCS is inconsistent with the ITU’s international allocations, it must operate on a non-interference, unprotected basis under Article 4.4 of the Radio Regulations.

Performance requirements and MSS exclusivity

The most consequential part may be the least noticed. The draft proposes D2D performance requirements, in addition to satellite milestones, for both SCS licensees and “MSS D2D operators”. Its illustrative metrics are a downlink signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio of 5 dB at two and four years and 10 dB at nine years; minimum uplink throughput of 100, 200 and 300 kbps per megahertz; and outdoor service available 70%, 80% and 90% of the time across 90% of each licence area. Missing the first interim target would pull the final deadline forward by one year. The FCC says these mirror the conditions in the SpaceX-EchoStar and Grain-T-Mobile transactions, and it asks what should apply to geostationary D2D systems.

On MSS, the draft notes that the Big LEO, L-band and 2 GHz service rules were written decades ago. Globalstar and Iridium are the only licensed Big LEO systems; Globalstar and Amazon have applied to transfer Globalstar’s licences to Amazon, which has since sought its own D2D authority. On 23 April 2026 the Space Bureau’s MSS Clarification Order (DA 26-398) reaffirmed that MSS licensees hold exclusive rights in the bands they are authorised to use and dismissed, with prejudice, requests by SpaceX, Kepler, Sateliot and AST for access to bands already licensed to others. The draft asks whether to codify that exclusivity.

The companion auction item

The same meeting will consider a Further Notice on the 1675-1695 MHz and 2020-2025 MHz bands. It proposes auctioning 25 megahertz in two unpaired 10 megahertz blocks and one unpaired 5 megahertz block, for terrestrial use, D2D or both, with a secondary MSS allocation for SCS. The fact sheet notes that NTIA is still studying 1680-1695 MHz, so the final band plan depends on that study.

What it means in practice

For satellite operators, the business model changes from leasing a national block to signing agreements market by market. That favours operators who can target regions, and terrestrial licensees with patchy holdings, such as a regional carrier or a 900 MHz licensee, gain something to sell. The FCC notes an experimental D2D trial in the 900 MHz band between Anterix and Lynk.

For mobile network operators, the coexistence agreement becomes the key contract. Because its terms would stay private, interference allocation, termination rights and what happens to the satellite partner’s performance deadlines if the agreement ends will all be matters of negotiation.

For everyone, the regulatory layer is getting heavier even as the licensing layer gets lighter. Performance metrics, discontinuance and renewal rules would make D2D look more like a terrestrial licence than a satellite authorisation. The new licences will also sit within the FCC’s new part 100 satellite rules, adopted in the Space Modernization Report and Order (FCC 26-47) on 22 July 2026 but not yet in force, and alongside the spectrum changes covered in our piece on the 12.7 GHz and 42 GHz decision.

Internationally, SCS remains a national arrangement. Satellites that spill signals across borders need the neighbour’s consent, and filings still run through the ITU system. The global question is on the agenda of the World Radiocommunication Conference 2027 (Shanghai, 18 October to 12 November 2027), where agenda item 1.13 under Resolution 253 (WRC-23) studies possible new MSS allocations for direct connectivity between satellites and mobile handsets between 694/698 MHz and 2.7 GHz.

What I would watch

The first is the 29 October vote. Changes between the draft and the adopted text, especially to the -76 dBm/m2/MHz boundary limit and the treatment of public safety bands, will show where the mobile carriers pushed back. Comments would then be due 60 days after Federal Register publication, and replies 90 days after.

The second is the performance metrics. They are the first serious attempt anywhere to define what counts as working D2D service, and satellite operators will argue that SINR and availability targets designed with SpaceX’s spectrum position in mind do not fit smaller or geostationary systems.

The third is SpaceX’s own timetable: the surety bond due by 4 November 2026, closing of the second step of the EchoStar deal, and whether the first satellites of the new constellation launch before the new SCS rules take effect.

The fourth is MSS exclusivity. If the FCC codifies exclusive rights in the Big LEO and L-band allocations, the Amazon-Globalstar transaction becomes a purchase of a protected D2D franchise, and new entrants will have to buy their way in rather than seek a share of the band. Taken together with the Upper C-band transition, my read is that it confirms the pattern of this FCC: spectrum is pushed towards its most intensive use, and every licensee, satellite or terrestrial, is expected to show that it is using what it holds.

Anuj KumarEditor-in-Chief

Anuj Kumar is the founder of Legal Desire Media and publishes Fashion Law Journal and Space Law Journal.

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