Modernizing Spectrum Sharing for Satellite Broadband

What it does

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission or we) adopts a Report and Order (Order) that revises the spectrum sharing framework for Geostationary Orbit (GSO) and Non- Geostationary Orbit (NGSO) systems that currently relies on NGSO systems complying with Equivalent Power Flux Density (EPFD) limits developed in the late-1990s. The consequence today of applying such EPFD limits in the United States is that operators must overprotect GSO systems, which in turn means that American households and businesses-- most critically in rural and remote areas--do not receive the fastest space-based NGSO satellite broadband American innovation has available. Based on the technical record in this proceeding, the Order replaces the EPFD framework with modern, performance-based GSO protection criteria. The Order extends the Commission's framework for good-faith coordination and allow NGSO and GSO operators to bargain for appropriate interference protections through voluntary, private agreement. The Order further adopts technical backstops to protect GSO systems when coordination has not been reached.

The Federal Communications Commission's summary, as published in the Federal Register.

What changed in the regulation

1 part of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

47 CFR 25

Wording on eCFR: the day before it took effect and from the day it took effect (first part listed).

Compared with

The Federal Communications Commission has published 57 final rules in 2026 so far, compared with 78 in all of 2025.

Counted by the Tribune from Federal Register records since Jan. 1, 2025.

What happens next and when

These rules are effective July 13, 2026, except for the amendments to Sec. Sec. 25.146(a)(3) (amendatory instruction 2) and 25.289(a)(2) (amendatory instruction 4), which are indefinitely delayed. The Commission will publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date of these rule sections.

The agency's dates, word for word.

Check it yourself

• The document in the Federal Register
• Title 47 on eCFR

The record as published

Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register