US Senate committee advances bill to speed approvals for new satellites

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday passed legislation aimed at speeding approval of new satellites to extend broadband internet service to more of the United States.

The approval comes less than two weeks after Elon Musk's SpaceX filed for approval to launch a constellation of 1 million satellites that will orbit Earth and harness the sun to power AI data centers.

The legislation aims to streamline satellite licensing but requires the Federal Communications Commission to ensure that new satellites do not interfere with existing users, and to decide whether untested satellite designs need more scrutiny.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz and Democratic Senator Peter Welch in January introduced the legislation, which aims to ensure regulatory predictability to the satellite industry and boost broadband access in rural areas.

The bill seeks to streamline the FCC application process.

"We have more rocket launches and satellite deployments today than ever before," Cruz said. "However, innovative companies that seek to expand broadband access to Americans are facing a regulatory process that is outdated, leading to massive delays in the deployment of new satellite technologies."

The legislation seeks to address regulatory delays due to the increase in the quantity of space and earth station applications submitted to the FCC.

The bill was approved after changes proposed by Senator Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the committee. Her office said the legislation ensures the FCC will have authority to closely review satellites.

"We all want faster licensing — but we made sure the FCC's experts set the rules for what gets fast-tracked, not a one-size-fits-all shot clock that treats a ground antenna the same as a million satellite constellations," Cantwell's office said.

While it is unlikely that SpaceX will put 1 million satellites in space, where only 15,000 satellites exist currently, satellite operators sometimes request approval for higher numbers of satellites than they intend to deploy to buy design flexibility. For instance, SpaceX sought approval for 42,000 Starlink satellites before it began deployment of the system.

The growing network currently has roughly 9,500 satellites in space.