Commissioner Slams FCC for Denying $886M in Funding to Starlink
An FCC commissioner says the agency made a mistake in canceling $886 million in funding for SpaceX's Starlink, arguing that the decision risks leaving many rural residents without access to high-speed internet.
Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr says(Opens in a new window) he was "surprised" by the decision, which, "constitutes clear error and plainly exceeds agency authority," he argues.
“The FCC’s 2020 award to Starlink secured a commitment for the delivery of high-speed Internet service to 642,925 unserved rural homes and businesses across 35 states. By reversing course, the FCC has just chosen to vaporize that commitment and replace it with...nothing,” Carr claims. “That’s a decision to leave families waiting on the wrong side of the digital divide when we have the technology to get them high-speed service today.”
In 2020, the FCC tentatively awarded $886 million to Starlink as part of a federal program to bring high-speed internet to rural areas across the US. The program’s goal is to supply Gigabit internet speeds to over 85% of the selected rural locations and at least 100Mbps download speeds for all 99.7% of the locations in the coming years.
But earlier this month, the FCC announced it was withdrawing funding for Starlink because its popularity has resulted in network congestion.
“We cannot afford to subsidize ventures that are not delivering the promised speeds or are not likely to meet program requirements,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, said after the commission denied SpaceX's long-form application for the subsidies.
Specifically, the FCC called Starlink a “nascent” satellite internet technology that has “recognized capacity constraints” in delivering consistent high speeds to users.
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