FCC Approves SpaceX Launch of 15,000 Second-Generation Starlink Satellites

The FCC's approval matters less as a satellite count than as a spectrum decision: locking in global 2 GHz use gives Starlink a regulatory foothold that competitors will have to route around or challenge. That affects rival satellite broadband operators and terrestrial carriers who share or covet that band, not just SpaceX's launch cadence. The open question is whether the 2 GHz allocation draws interference disputes or further rulemaking, since approval to launch is not the same as uncontested rights to the airwaves.