Group Wants SpaceX Spectrum Deal Blocked Over Musk's China Ties
The FCC shouldn’t grant SpaceX’s application to buy EchoStar’s spectrum licenses (see 2509080052) until SpaceX majority shareholder Elon Musk’s relationship with the Chinese Communist Party is investigated, said public interest group Frequency Forward in a petition to deny filed Thursday. “Musk and the companies he controls have extensive, ongoing business arrangements with China,” the petition said. “These business dealings give China the power to influence and control the operations of his companies, including Starlink.”
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The FCC “has on a unanimous, bipartisan basis and on the recommendation of Executive Branch national security agencies, denied or revoked authorizations to provide telecommunications services in the U.S. to companies controlled by, or subject to the direction of foreign adversaries,” the petition said. Musk has built Tesla factories in China on land leased from the CCP and benefits from tax breaks and loans granted by China, and Tesla has CCP branches in its Chinese operations, the petition noted. SpaceX, meanwhile, a private company, sells shares to Chinese investors, it added. “Clearly, the CCP has the means and the motive to exert commercial and financial pressure on Tesla and thus by extension on Musk.” Not enough is known about the extent of the CCP's and Chinese investors' influence over Musk’s companies, the petition said. “What rights do these citizens of a foreign adversary country have to control the day-to-day operations of SpaceX?” it asked. “These questions need to be addressed and answered before the FCC can allocate additional frequencies or grant additional licenses to SpaceX.”
Frequency Forward said the agency should hold all SpaceX applications in abeyance and schedule an evidentiary hearing on the applications and SpaceX’s qualifications to hold FCC licenses, as well as the possibility that its current spectrum holdings could pose a national security threat. SpaceX didn’t respond to a request for comment.