Jay Schwarz Chief of FCC Space Bureau. Photo: Steven David

Modernizing and simplifying the licensing of space operations by U.S. companies will be a priority for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under the Trump administration, the new leader of the commission’s Space Bureau told SATELLITE attendees at a Wednesday luncheon keynote on March 12.

The FCC will also seek to free up more spectrum for the satellite industry, said Jay Schwarz, appointed by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr last month to run the office that licenses U.S. space operations and the associated spectrum.

“Our space licensing system is rooted in a ‘Mother, may I?’ regulatory philosophy designed for the last space race,” a quarter century ago, said Schwarz. 

“We have chosen paperwork, processes, and precautions,” he said. “It’s urgent we change course.”

Schwarz jokingly described his relationship with industry as a honeymoon period. “There’s going to be plenty of time to talk about specific issues and specific proceedings, and there’s going to be plenty of time for us to grow to dislike each other,” he said.

He painted a bleak picture of American space innovation stifled by unnecessary bureaucracy and cowed by unnecessarily vague rules.

“Obtaining FCC licenses for space operations shouldn’t be a multi-year odyssey,” he said. “Engineers shouldn’t need to guess at requirements the FCC was supposed to spell out.”

His predecessor as Space Bureau chief agreed with that last point. “Regulatory efficiency and transparency are key to ensuring our thriving space sector,” Julie Kearney, now co-chair of DLA Piper’s Space Exploration and Innovation Practice, told Via Satellite.

Schwarz told the lunchtime audience of conference attendees that they need to know three things about him to get a “sense for what’s going to guide the Space Bureau as we go forward:”

He described himself as an economist, who looks at space policy “through the lens of economic growth.” The space market is predicted to grow by 9% annually, a much higher rate than the overall economy, and could help lift the rest of the nation. “The industry in this room can be a pacesetter for the overall economy. It can be a pacesetter for our nation,” Schwarz said.

He lives on a farm in rural Northern Virginia, and said it was one of the few places in the D.C. metro area without reliable home broadband via cable when he bought it. Satellite broadband had been “life-changing” for his family, Schwarz said.

He has three children. “My kids are really why I spend so much time thinking about what I want America to look like in 10, 20, or 30 years,” he said. “I see the space economy as a driver of the type of innovations that will create and defend the prosperous society that I want my kids and grandkids to live in.”

Schwarz described the effect of the FCC’s current approach to its space licensing role as a “regulatory drag,” and said it could impede the growth potential of the space sector.

He did some back-of-the-envelope style calculations. Imagine if regulatory drag, not just from the FCC, but other U.S. and international agencies like the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) reduced the annual growth rate of the space economy by a “teeny weeny” amount like 0.3% to 8.7%. Schwarz said the net cost of that over three decades would be over 5 trillion dollars.

Schwarz rejoins the FCC after serving as vice president of Public Policy for Comcast for the past six years. He previously worked for the FCC in the first Trump administration, serving as former Chairman Ajit Pai’s Wireline Advisor. He also held positions at the FCC in the Wireline Competition Bureau, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, and the Office of Strategic Planning.