FCC Accepts for Filing SpaceX Unit's Bid for 546 800 MHz Licenses Covering All 50 States; Public Comments Due December 1
The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a public notice on November 10 accepting for filing an application by Starlink Spectrum Holdings, a wholly owned SpaceX subsidiary, to acquire control of two license-holding companies owned by Grain Management. The deal covers 546 licenses in the 800 MHz band spanning all 50 states; acceptance for filing is only the first procedural step and does not constitute approval.
The notice, DA 26-1218, was assigned WT Docket No. 26-313. The applications were filed on October 9 (ULS File Nos. 0012212612 and 0012212635). The transfer covers 546 paired licenses held by Prism License Co. 1 LLC and Prism License Co. 2 LLC in the 817-824 MHz and 862-869 MHz bands, up to 14 MHz of spectrum across 173 Economic Areas and 3,224 counties, covering all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, or roughly 100 percent of the U.S. population.
The comment cycle is set: petitions to deny and comments are due December 1, oppositions December 8, and replies December 15. The FCC stressed that acceptance for filing does not mean the transfer will be granted, and that substantially defective applications may be returned; conditions attached to Grain's earlier purchase of the portfolio from T-Mobile will carry over to the buyer.
The spectrum is the portfolio Grain previously acquired from T-Mobile. Neither company disclosed the price; Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal have reported a figure of about $8 billion. Grain originally paid about $2.9 billion in cash plus a package of 600 MHz licenses.
Beyond terrestrial mobile use, SpaceX separately asked the FCC on October 27 for authority to use the frequencies for supplemental coverage from space, its satellite-to-cellphone service, along with related waivers; that request remains under review. SpaceX is building its mobile offering under the Starlink Mobile brand.
Source: U.S. Federal Communications Commission
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Starlink卫星列车划过夜空的长曝光轨迹（Jud McCranie 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，Wikimedia Commons）。 / Image: Long-exposure trails of a Starlink satellite train (Jud McCranie, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).
