Despite industry reports last year that Boeing Co.’s plan to build a space-based, satellite-powered internet was stalled, it appears the plan is back in orbit. Boeing spokesman Jerry Drelling told Seattle Business magazine that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has placed the Boeing application for authority to launch and operate 147 satellites into the “public notice” phase, adding that “this is a key step toward the eventual grant of Boeing licenses for this system.” In its application to create the broadband-satellite constellation, Boeing points out that nearly 34 million people, or 10 percent of the U.S. population, do not have access to reliable, high-speed internet service. Boeing’s broad-band satellite system seeks “to provide broadband Internet and communications services to residential consumers, governmental, and professional users across the United States, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands,” the company’s FCC application states. A market study by Morgan Stanley projects that “the global space industry could generate revenue of $1.1 trillion or more in 2040, up from $350 billion, currently.” The study found that some $410 billion of that revenue is expected to be linked to internet services. Boeing, however, appears to be a step behind the competition in the race to build a space-based internet and, according to industry speculation, will likely need a partner to operate the system it builds. That speculation has focused in the past on Apple or possibly even some kind of arrangement with an affiliate of London-based OneWeb, which also plans to operate a large broadband-satellite constellation. If so, nothing appears to have come of such flirtations to date, and Drelling declined to comment on speculation about Boeing’s interest in a potential partner for its space-internet venture. Late last year, the FCC approved requests from four companies, including SpaceX, which has satellite-development operations in Redmond, Washington, that are seeking to launch satellites into lower-Earth orbit, or LEO, that can provide high-speed broadband services to users across the U.S., and eventually the planet.
Boeing has inched closer to its goal of building a 147-satellite constellation after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) moved its application to the public notice phase. Boeing wants to create a satellite-based broadband internet system, serving residential, commercial and government users in the US, as well as Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. So far, the FCC has granted 13 similar applications to nine companies.