FCC Sends Space Modernization Final Rule to OMB

Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received a final rule from the FCC on “Space Modernization for the 21st Century (SB Docket No. 25.306)”. The FCC published the notice of proposed rulemaking on December 5th, 2025. 

According to the 2026 Unified Agenda entry for this rulemaking: 

“In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Notice), the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) proposes to modernize the Commission’s space and earth station licensing process to allow space companies to more freely and successfully compete in the marketplace to serve the American people. In particular, the Notice proposes to develop a licensing assembly line” designed to route applications for efficient review based on specific aspects of a request. It further proposes to change the public notice timelines to allow for faster application processing; proposes reforms to bonds, processing rounds, license terms, and milestones; and substantially updates the earth station licensing regime.” 

This comes from the Long-Term Actions portion of the Agenda, which should have indicated that the FCC did not intend to take any action on the rulemaking in the next 12 months. This might explain why the dates provided in the entry for the ANPRM and NPRM were not reflective of the dates such documents were published in the Federal Register; apparently being reflective of publication dates in the FCC’s SB Docket (for example here). 

OMB Approves FCC Part 15 Devices in Space NPRM

Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had approved a notice of proposed rulemaking from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on “Operation of Part 15 Devices in Space (ET Docket 25-XXX)”. The NPRM was submitted to OIRA on June 11th, 2026. 

According to the 2026 Unified Agenda entry for this rulemaking:  

“As space launches and satellite deployment continue to increase, companies with space-based operations are increasingly looking to expand capacity, reduce cost, and increase the utility of their operations.  The increase in space launches, coupled with the growing diversity of non-satellite spacecraft, has resulted in a growing need to support communication in space and between Earth and space. To meet this growing need, the Commission begins this proceeding to explore unlicensed device use in space.” 

The ‘Part 15’ references electronic transmission devices covered under 47 CFR Part 15, devices that “may be operated without an individual license.” {§15.1(a)} 

I do not expect to cover this NPRM in any detail, but as part of my limited Space Geek coverage, I will at least include notification of the publication in the appropriate Short Takes post. 

FCC Sends Space Modernization Final Rule to OMB

 Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received a final rule from the FCC on “Space Modernization for the 21st Century (SB Docket No. 25.306)”. The notice of proposed rulemaking was published on December 5th, 2025. 

This rulemaking was not listed in the Spring 2025 Unified Agenda. The preamble to the NPRM noted that: 

“As we re-design the Commission's space licensing processes to increase speed, predictability, and flexibility we must do so in a way that guides our determination as to whether a license for space-based communications is in the public interest based on evaluation in these areas. We recognize that a process which efficiently and effectively reviews license applications for these factors will promote the wide availability of communications delivered by a thriving space economy employing new technologies. In addition, it is our intention that by simplifying and modernizing our space licensing procedures we will ensure that the use of part 5 experimental licenses will again be for the testing and development of truly novel space concepts.” 

I will not be covering this rule in any detail, but as part of my limited Space Geek coverage, I will report its publication in the appropriate Short Takes post. 

FCC Sends Spectrum Sharing for Satellite Broadband Final Rule to OMB

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received a final rule from the FCC on “Modernizing Spectrum Sharing for Satellite Broadband (SB Docket No. 25-157)”. The FCC opened a docket for this rulemaking on April 7th, 2025. A notice of proposed rulemaking was published for this rule on June 13th, 2025. The FCC announced that a scheduled meeting on April 30th, 2026 would include a discussion about this rulemaking. 

Generally speaking, the FCC does not publish rulemaking information in the Unified Agenda. 

Interestingly, OIRA has previously published a notice of approval of a final rule for this action, but I can find no such publication notice in the Federal Register. 

Coverage of this final rule will be done under my limited Space Geek coverage. I would only expect to announce the publication of the final rule in the appropriate Short Takes post. 

OMB Approves FCC Telecom Security Threats NPRM

 Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had approved a notice of proposed rulemaking from the FCC on “Protecting Against National Security Threats in Domestic Telecommunications Service”. The proposed rulemaking was sent to OIRA on March 11th, 2026. 

As with most FCC rulemakings, this was not published in the Spring 2025 Unified Agenda. This appears to be part of an ongoing set of regulatory actions being taken by the FCC to deal with active and perceived threats to domestic telecommunications services. 

This rulemaking appears to be only tangentially associated with the scope of topics of this blog. I do not expect to cover it in any depth, but will include notice of it’s publication in the appropriate Short Takes post. 

OMB Approves FCC Satellite Broadband Final Rule

 Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had approved a final rule from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Modernizing Spectrum Sharing for Satellite Broadband (SB Docket No. 25-157). The final rule was submitted to OIRA on February 13th, 2026. The FCC’s notice of proposed rulemaking was published in the Federal Register on June 13th, 2025. 

This rulemaking, as is usual for the FCC, was not published in the Spring 2025 Unified Agenda. In the Summary published in the NPRM, the Commission reported that: 

“In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission or we) seeks comment on modernizing spectrum sharing between geostationary (GSO) and non-geostationary (NGSO) satellite systems operating in the 10.7-12.7, 17.3-18.6, and 19.7-20.2 GHz frequency bands in which equivalent power-flux density (EPFD) limits apply.” 

This rulemaking will be reported under my limited Space Geek coverage. Thus, I do not expect to provide detailed analysis when this final rule is published in the next week or two. I do plan on announcing its publication in the appropriate Short Takes post.