Low-Earth orbiting ‘constellation’ of satellites will provide broadband to hard-to-reach areas in US

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been given formal approval by US telecoms regulators to build a global broadband network using satellites.

“This is the first approval of a US-licensed satellite constellation to provide broadband services using a new generation of low-Earth orbit satellite technologies,” the Federal Communications Commission said in a statement.

The system proposed by privately held SpaceX, as Space Exploration Holdings is known, will use 4,425 satellites, the FCC said.

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Ajit Pai, the FCC chairman, endorsed the SpaceX effort in February, saying: “Satellite technology can help reach Americans who live in rural or hard-to-serve places where fibre-optic cables and cell towers do not reach.”

On Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration said SpaceX plans to launch a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a communications satellite on 2 April at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Musk, who is also the founder and chief executive of Tesla, said in 2015 that SpaceX planned to launch a satellite-internet business that would help fund a future city on Mars.

SpaceX wanted to create a “global communications system” that Musk compared to “rebuilding the internet in space”. It would be faster than traditional internet connections, he said.

“This is an important step toward SpaceX building a next-generation satellite network that can link the globe with reliable and affordable broadband service, especially reaching those who are not yet connected,” Gwynne Shotwell of SpaceX said.

Over the past year, the FCC has approved requests by OneWeb, Space Norway and Telesat to access the US market to provide broadband services using satellite technology that the FCC said “holds promise to expand internet access in remote and rural areas across the country”.

About 14 million rural Americans and 1.2 million Americans on tribal lands lack mobile broadband even at relatively slow speeds.

FCC commissioner, Jessica Rosenworcel, said on Thursday that the agency needs “to prepare for the proliferation of satellites in our higher altitudes”.