In August, the Federal Communications Commission told Congress that high-speed broadband is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion. Part of how it got there was satellite. The agency’s annual broadband report concluded that 99.7 percent of the population can get satellite service at the FCC’s benchmark speed of 100 megabits down and 20 up, Telecompetitor reported.
One commissioner pointed out a problem with that number. Anna Gomez wrote that fewer than half of satellite users actually got those speeds in 2025, and called the 99.7 percent figure misleading. Then, on September 30, the FCC took a step aimed at the capacity limits behind that gap.
The vote: more airwaves for satellites
At its September meeting, the FCC freed up more than 1,000 megahertz of spectrum in the 12.7 GHz and 42 GHz bands for satellite services, and exempted satellite launches and operations from federal environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act, Via Satellite reported. Launches remain subject to environmental review by the Federal Aviation Administration. The commission also proposed opening up more spectrum in other satellite bands.
The 12.7 GHz allocation alone represents more than a 25 percent increase in downlink spectrum for satellite operators, according to TeslaNorth’s analysis, which noted that SpaceX’s Starlink has been straining against capacity limits. Amazon, AST SpaceMobile, Globalstar and others also stand to benefit.
It is the latest in a series of moves this year to give satellite internet more room. Chairman Brendan Carr previewed a separate vote earlier in the year to lift satellite power limits:
The FCC will vote this month to supercharge your Internet.
Lifting outdated power limits on satellite Internet means faster speeds and more capacity.
🚀 🛰️ 🛜 pic.twitter.com/Qy7yuHv8Mx
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) April 8, 2026
Why the two numbers belong together
Read on their own, the August report and the September vote look like separate stories. Together they describe a strategy. The FCC’s report found that about 10.5 million people, more than 9 million of them in rural areas, still lack fixed land-based broadband at the 100/20 benchmark. The agency is treating satellite as a large part of the answer for those people. And the main thing standing between satellite service and that benchmark is capacity: as the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society has noted, satellite service can slow during periods of congestion, when many customers share the same capacity.
More spectrum is one of the most direct fixes for that. So is launching bigger satellites, which is why Starship’s first Starlink V3 deployment matters to this story too. If the satellites and the spectrum arrive, the gap between “available” and “actually delivered” could narrow. The FCC is, in effect, betting that it will.
What each side says
Supporters see satellite as a practical way to reach remote homes that wired networks have not. Carr has framed the September changes as removing the threat of activist lawsuits and last-minute surprises from next-generation space development, and Commissioner Olivia Trusty said the goal was to avoid constraining American innovation and leadership in space. Gomez supported the spectrum item as sensible spectrum management, according to Via Satellite.
Critics focus on the report rather than the spectrum. Benton argued that the FCC overstated satellite’s reach, noting that satellite accounts for about 2.3 percent of actual subscriptions despite the 99.7 percent availability figure. Benton and Gomez also objected to the report dropping affordability from its analysis, and Benton criticized the agency for abandoning its long-term goal of gigabit download speeds. Carr, for his part, credited the administration’s policies with rising speeds, falling prices and stronger competition.
What to watch
The test of the FCC’s bet is measurable. Next year’s broadband report could show whether the share of satellite customers actually getting 100/20 has risen from under half. If it has, the 99.7 percent figure starts to mean something closer to what it says. If it hasn’t, the 10.5 million people without a land-based connection will be counted as served by a service that often falls short of the benchmark. Either way, the number to watch is not how many people satellite can reach. It is how many it actually delivers to.
Related reading: Starship Finally Reached Orbit With 26 Starlink Satellites.
