Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday called out broadband companies Dish Network Corp (NASDAQ: DISH) and RS Access, an affiliate of billionaire Michael Dell, over an attempt to switch satellite spectrum for cellular spectrum.
What Happened: The billionaire entrepreneur said the companies' attempt “to bait” and switch the spectrum was “super shady and unethical,” and could interfere with the Starlink satellite internet network.
“If they are successful, it would hurt the least served and completely unserved of the world. Very messed up,” Musk wrote in response to a Twitter post.
The Background: SpaceX on Tuesday urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate whether Dish and RS Access filed "intentionally misleading reports" involving the 12GHz broadband, CNBC reported.
The 12 GHz band is a frequency range used for broadband communications and supports both ground-based and space-based services.
FCC in January had sought comments on how to best use the band. Dish and RS Access published studies arguing that ground-based 5G networks could share the frequency with low Earth orbit satellite networks, such as Starlink or OneWeb.
SpaceX has in its analysis claimed Dish and RS Access need to correct “some of the most egregious assumptions” in the reports, arguing Starlink users would see interference to the point of causing service outages for customers “74% of the time.”
Besides SpaceX, telecom companies such as AT&T Inc (NYSE: T), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT), as well as satellite network operators Intelsat, OneWeb and SES, have filed comments with the FCC opposing the potential expansion of 12 GHz use.
