The FCC's Final 800 MHz Drone Order Adds a SpaceX Footnote the Draft Lacked

The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-0 on October 29 to let drones use the 800 MHz Cellular band. The vote was the headline. The order text, released a day later as FCC 26-72, carries a smaller detail that may matter more in the long run: a footnote that was not in the public draft. It names SpaceX's pending purchase of the spectrum next to the drone band and says the Commission expects the two to coexist.

We covered the vote when it happened. This piece looks only at the released document: what the final text changed from the draft, what footnote 29 says, and how much weight that footnote can carry.

What the order does

The 19-page Report and Order, titled "Unleashing American Drone Dominance" and filed in GN Docket 26-74 along with WT Dockets 22-323 and 24-629, amends 47 CFR 22.925. Since 1991 that rule has barred cellular phones from being used while airborne. The ban was meant to keep a handset at altitude from reaching many towers at once. DroneDJ reports that the FCC now considers that concern largely handled by how modern networks manage interference.

Under the new text, uncrewed aircraft can operate in the Cellular band, 824-849 MHz and 869-894 MHz, about 50 MHz in total. DroneDJ describes the permitted uses as command, control, communications and payload operations. The order also adds a mobile footnote allocation to the U.S. Table of Frequency Allocations in 47 CFR 2.106, and it defines uncrewed aircraft by pointing to the definitions in Part 88.

The change is narrow. Customers' own mobile devices are still barred while airborne, so a phone in a passenger's pocket on a flight is not covered. Part 22 service rules still apply to drone operations in the band. For the 890-894 MHz segment the order adds a further condition: UAS there may not cause harmful interference and may not claim protection from it, the standard non-interference basis under ITU Radio Regulation 4.4.

Some things did not change between draft and final. DroneXL reports that Zipline's request for reduced-power drone operation was still declined. The order takes effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, and as of November 1 it had not been published.

Draft versus final

DroneXL compared the draft and adopted texts line by line. Most of the differences are routine: a new closing sentence in paragraph 1, cleaned-up citations, revised appendix wording and an added reference to section 22.352. That kind of editing is normal between a public draft and a released order.

Footnote 29 is different. It adds facts and a policy statement that the draft did not contain, and it concerns a company that was not part of the drone proceeding when the draft circulated.

What footnote 29 says

The footnote lays out recent events in the spectrum next to the Cellular band. On July 1, 2026, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau approved Grain Management's purchase of licenses from T-Mobile (DA 26-653). On October 9, SpaceX, through Starlink Spectrum Holdings, applied to buy those licenses from Grain (ULS File No. 0012212612). The footnote cites a letter from Alison Minea of SpaceX.

The licenses cover 817-824 MHz and 862-869 MHz, which sit directly below each half of the Cellular band. DroneXL reports that Grain paid T-Mobile $2.9 billion in cash plus 600 MHz licenses, and that the licenses cover between 4.85 and 14 MHz across 3,224 counties. SpaceX announced its deal on October 8. Neither company disclosed a price. RCR Wireless, citing the Wall Street Journal, put the value near $8 billion.

The policy sentence in the footnote reads:

"We expect that UAS operating in the 800 MHz (Cellular) bands will coexist with operations in all adjacent spectrum bands, including with potential mobile and/or D2D operations in adjacent 817-824 and 862-869 MHz bands."

"D2D" means direct-to-device, a satellite communicating straight with a phone.

What the footnote binds, and what it doesn't

The sentence is worded as an expectation, not a rule. Read closely, it limits what it commits the Commission to.

It does not approve the SpaceX deal. The footnote describes the application as filed and pending. The order does not rule on it, and nothing in the drone docket decides whether the transfer goes through.

It does not set technical coexistence terms. The footnote names no emission limits, guard bands, altitude limits or coordination process between drone operators and a future neighbor running mobile or D2D service. The rule text the order actually changes is section 22.925 and the Table of Allocations, and the binding conditions on drone use (Part 22 rules and the non-interference condition at 890-894 MHz) appear there and in the order's own requirements.

It does put the Commission's position on the record. The FCC knew about a large pending transaction next door, said so in the order, and said it expects coexistence "in all adjacent spectrum bands." The wording covers more than SpaceX. If a future interference dispute arises between airborne drones in the Cellular band and a D2D service just below it, both sides will be able to cite a document that described the two uses as compatible from the start.

It leaves the hard questions open. "Potential" is doing real work in that sentence. The Commission's expectation is written about a service that is still only potential: the footnote says "potential mobile and/or D2D operations," not a defined system. If a D2D system sends satellite downlink signals into 862-869 MHz, right next to the 869-894 MHz segment where drones would be receiving, the details will matter. The footnote does not settle them.

The statements

Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioner Olivia Trusty issued separate statements. According to DroneXL, Carr pointed to Dracoe, a company in Aberdeen, North Carolina, and Trusty cited a St. Paul police drone rescue. Commissioner Anna Gomez voted to approve without a statement.

Why It Matters

For drone operators, the order opens about 50 MHz of licensed, low-band spectrum for command, control, communications and payload operations, as DroneDJ describes it. Lifting a 35-year-old prohibition removes a real regulatory obstacle to cellular-connected UAS.

The footnote shows that this spectrum will not be quiet. A satellite operator with D2D plans may soon hold the licenses next to both halves of the band. Spectrum neighbors tend to end up arguing over interference, and the record in this order already frames that relationship as coexistence. That framing helps drone interests if the FCC later has to choose between the two. It does not give them a technical guarantee.

The order is also part of a wider effort. DroneDJ describes it as one half of a two-pronged FCC approach that pairs more commercial spectrum with domestic security measures, and the agency says it is studying cellular networks for drones with federal partners and through experimental licenses. DroneXL reports more drone spectrum votes scheduled for November 19, covering 450 MHz and 24 GHz. Those orders will show whether the FCC handles adjacent-band issues in binding rule text or again in footnotes.

Until the Federal Register publishes the order and the SpaceX application is decided, footnote 29 states an intention, not a requirement.