FCC's Adopted 800 MHz Drone Order Adds SpaceX Footnote Absent From Public Draft

The adopted text of the Federal Communications Commission's 800 MHz drone order contains a footnote that was not in the public draft, according to a line-by-line comparison published by DroneXL. The footnote names SpaceX's pending purchase of the spectrum beside the drone band and says the FCC expects the two uses to coexist.

The order, FCC 26-72, is a final Report and Order rather than a proposal. It was adopted 3-0 on October 29 and released on October 30. It will end the 1991 airborne ban for drones at 824-849 MHz and 869-894 MHz once it takes effect, which had not happened as of Sunday, November 1.

This report relies on DroneXL's account. The UAV Post has not independently reviewed the order, the footnote or the commissioners' statements, and quotations from those documents are as reported by DroneXL.

What changed between draft and adoption

Footnote 29 records two transactions in the adjacent 817-824 MHz and 862-869 MHz band, which sits directly below the drone allocations:

• The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau approved Grain Management's purchase of T-Mobile's licenses on July 1.

• SpaceX applied on October 9 to take those licenses over.

The FCC says it expects drones to coexist with "potential mobile and/or D2D operations" in that band. D2D refers to direct-to-device service, in which a satellite communicates directly with a phone.

The footnote cites page 2 of a letter from Alison Minea, SpaceX's satellite policy director, filed in the drone docket. SpaceX was not among the parties the draft cited for the change. The FCC's reported response is that it "intend[s] for both spectrum bands to be fully utilized."

DroneXL found these other differences from the draft:

• A new closing sentence in the opening paragraph

• Citation cleanup

• Wording changes in the rule appendix

• An added reference to section 22.352, which lets the FCC order a station to fix interference it causes

Zipline's request for reduced-power drone operations remains declined.

Rule references and dates

• Status: Final order, adopted October 29 and released October 30

• Rule reference: FCC 26-72; the draft was FCC-CIRC2610-03

• Docket number: Not given in the reporting reviewed

• Effective date: 30 days after Federal Register publication, which had not occurred as of November 1

• Comment deadline: None given in the reporting reviewed

• Related filing: SpaceX's transfer application, ULS file 0012212612

Who is affected

The order most directly concerns drone operators and manufacturers that want to use the 824-849 MHz and 869-894 MHz bands. The available reporting does not describe the technical terms that will apply, such as power limits, altitude limits or device requirements. Those terms need to be checked against the order's rule appendix.

SpaceX stands to become the neighbor in the adjacent band if its purchase is completed. Grain paid T-Mobile $2.9 billion in cash plus its own 600 MHz licenses for the spectrum, which the Justice Department had ordered T-Mobile to sell as a condition of its Sprint merger. The licenses cover 4.85 to 14 MHz in 3,224 counties, close to the entire US population.

SpaceX announced on October 8 that it would buy all of them, up to 14 MHz of paired spectrum, for its planned Starlink Mobile carrier. Neither company disclosed a price. The roughly $8 billion figure in circulation is a Wall Street Journal valuation, reported secondhand through RCR Wireless.

More FCC spectrum action may follow. Chairman Brendan Carr's statement describes the band as "nearly 50 megahertz of low-band spectrum" and says the commission will vote next month on more drone spectrum. DroneXL maps that to the 450 MHz and 24 GHz items on the November 19 agenda. Carr also pointed to a separate Supplemental Coverage from Space proposal approved at the same meeting. That item asks whether carriers can lease licensed spectrum to satellite operators for drone connectivity, and it is a proposal, not a rule.

How the footnote is being read

DroneXL's opinion column argues that the footnote amounts to the FCC telling SpaceX, before any grant of its transfer application, that it will have no power to block drone operations in the neighboring band. That is the publication's interpretation, not a position attributed to the FCC. The same column concedes that a footnote is not binding, and it identifies SpaceX's transfer application as the place the company would seek any conditions on 800 MHz drone traffic.

The reported language states an expectation and an intent. Nothing in the reporting shows that it sets an interference standard or resolves how the two services would share adjacent spectrum.

What remains uncertain

• The SpaceX letter: The adopted order gives the letter no date, and DroneXL could not find it in a search of the docket's public filings on Sunday. What SpaceX asked for is therefore not established.

• The basis for coexistence: The reporting identifies no interference analysis or guard-band assumption behind the FCC's expectation.

• Section 22.352: The reporting does not explain why the reference was added or how it affects drone operations.

• The transfer application: It is unknown whether SpaceX will seek drone-related conditions in ULS file 0012212612, or when the FCC will act on the application.

• Timing: The effective date cannot be fixed until the order is printed in the Federal Register.

• Zipline: The reporting does not give the FCC's reasons for declining the reduced-power request.