Photo: EchoStar Mobile

EchoStar reached a milestone with some of its 2 GHz band spectrum, announcing Friday it secured highest priority spectrum rights in the 2 GHz band for a non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite constellation. A SpaceX executive said this milestone is “huge” for the future Starlink Direct to Cell service in EchoStar’s spectrum in Australia. 

EchoStar’s subsidiary EchoStar Global Australia completed a process with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) called “Bringing Back Into Use (BBIU)” for the SIRION-1 satellite filing. EchoStar said that completing the BBIU process means all other operators in overlapping frequencies must coordinate with EchoStar under SIRION-1.

As part of the BBIU process, EchoStar Global Australia launched the Lyra-4 satellite on June 28. It was a Rocket Lab mission for an undisclosed customer, now known to be the Lyra-4 IoT satellite. It is part of a series of NGSO satellites that have been launched as part of EchoStar Global Australia’s Lyra constellation. The Lyra constellation uses SIRION filings that EchoStar acquired in the Helios Wire acquisition in 2019. 

“This achievement is a critical step in powering next-generation direct-to-device (D2D) services, particularly in rural and regional areas across the globe,” EchoStar said in a statement. 

David Goldman, vice president of Satellite Policy for SpaceX, weighed in with a post on X on what this means for SpaceX’s Starlink Direct to Cell services. SpaceX is purchasing EchoStar’s S-band and Mobile Satellite Spectrum (MSS) licenses for its Direct to Cell service. 

“It seems wonky, but this announcement is huge for Australians,” Goldman wrote. “SpaceX will ultimately see EchoStar’s global S-band rights power its next-gen Starlink Direct to Cell service. Completing the BBIU process means all other operators in overlapping frequencies must coordinate with SIRION-1.”