for Commercial Satellite Communications in FCC Filing.
This may well be the most significant challenge to date to one of
Amateur Radio’s most popular bands. It’s particularly significant
for Amateur Radio space communications, as that usage directly competes
with this company’s use case — satellite communications.
In DA 25-532, released 2025-06-20, the FCC Space Bureau
has accepted a filing from AST SpaceMobile to conduct Telemetry,
Tracking, and Command (TT&C) in both space-to-Earth and Earth-to-space
communications modes in 430–440 MHz. In the document, AST SpaceMobile is
referenced as AST & Science, LLC (AST).
In the US, this 10 MHz band segment comprises the middle third of US
Amateur Radio’s (secondary) allocation of the very popular and
heavily used 420–450 MHz (70 cm) band.
Also of interest, and potentially impacting US Amateur Radio operations
in the 902–928 MHz band, AST also requests to use 902–928 MHz for
space-to-Earth and 902–915 MHz for Earth-to-space communications.
In the US 902–928 MHz band, Amateur Radio has overlapping allocations
with unlicensed operations in this very popular and also very heavily
used band.
AST’s request mentions a number of bands other than those in use by
Amateur Radio.
AST intends to operate a number of satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
with very large antennas that will allow typical mobile telephones
to operate normally in areas where there is no terrestrial network
coverage, operating on some of the same frequencies as terrestrial
carriers.
AST intends to provide its satellite service worldwide:
We are partnering with some of the largest mobile network operators
across the globe to reach the biggest audience and improve connectivity
worldwide. AST SpaceMobile’s goal is to eliminate the connectivity
gaps faced by today’s 5 billion mobile subscribers and bring
broadband to approximately half of the world’s population who remain
unconnected.
AST SpaceMobile has entered into agreements and understandings with
over 50 mobile network operators which collectively service over 3
billion cellular customers.
In the US, AST’s carrier partners are AT&T and Verizon. T-Mobile has
announced a partnership with Starlink with similar technology (use of
ordinary mobile phones via satellite) called T-Satellite, which will
begin commercial operation on 2025-07-23.
FCC DA 25-532 appears to be notification that the FCC Space Bureau has
merely accepted AST’s request to use these bands.
The FCC is now accepting comments:
Filing Requirements: Interested parties may file comments on or before
July 21, 2025 and reply comments on or before August 5, 2025. Comments
and petitions regarding this application should be filed in both
the Commission’s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) and in
International Communications Filing System (ICFS) under the appropriate
file number. 47 CFR §25.154. All filings must refer to SB Docket No.
25-201 and ICFS File No. SAT-MOD-20250612-00145.
Per this mention by AMSAT-DL from 2022, AST has been operating in
430–440 MHz for some time:
AST SPACEMOBILE CONSTELLATION IN 430–440 MHZ BAND
This seems concerning, per this update in 2024 by DB2OS:
Although FCC confessed that the commercial 435 MHz TT&C operations
do not fall within the ITU assigned classification for the amateur
satellite service, they granted permission…
Additional Coverage of This Story
The FCC has denied AST Space Mobile’s request to use 430 MHz–440 MHz
for telemetry operations, noting “There is no space tracking or space
telemetering allocation in the 430–440 MHz frequency range.” (Thanks
to AMSAT-DL and the FCC for the information)
Unfortunately, AMSAT did not provide a link to their source for the
“denied” claim, and I haven’t seen any additional confirmation.
Note that FCC DA 25-532 was dated later (2025-06-20) than AMSAT’s
mention.
