Starlink spectrum approval, Florida fiber build, and DE-CIX routes top telecom briefing
The FCC approved SpaceX subsidiary Starlink Spectrum Holdings to acquire three Tristar licenses covering 15 MHz in the 1695–1710 MHz band, supporting Starlink Mobile plans though no commercial launch date was confirmed. Tillman Fiber announced a nearly $70 million FTTH expansion across St. Lucie, Martin, and Indian River counties, with T-Mobile Fiber providing residential service. DE-CIX activated three diverse backbone routes connecting Istanbul, Sofia, and Athens to Frankfurt with reported latency below 50 milliseconds.
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The FCC granted Starlink Spectrum Holdings, a SpaceX unit, permission to buy three Tristar licenses spanning 15 MHz in the 1695–1710 MHz AWS-3 band, with waivers attached. The move may support Starlink Mobile capacity and reduce reliance on partner carriers, but no commercial launch date was confirmed. Separately, Tillman Fiber is spending almost $70 million on Treasure Coast fiber, building in Port St. Lucie, Fort Pierce, and Vero Beach, with Sebastian planned; T-Mobile Fiber will offer residential service. Premises, fiber mileage, completion dates, and subscriber targets were not disclosed.
DE-CIX now runs three geographically separate backbone paths from Istanbul, Sofia, and Athens to Frankfurt. Reported latencies are under 40 ms, 35 ms, and 50 ms respectively. Its Istanbul exchange links about 70 networks and peaks at 613 Gbps, while Bulgaria’s BIX.BG links 136 networks and exceeds 1.3 Tbps at peak. Route-level investment and capacity figures were not provided.
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