SpaceX Loses $885 Million Starlink FCC Bid As Commission Cites Starship Problems
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SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service faced a setback yesterday after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) upheld its order to cancel roughly $900 million in subsidies that Starlink had won to provide internet access in underserved areas. Starlink, which operates the world's largest satellite internet constellation, has faced a lot of resistance and trouble at the FCC, with multiple rivals questioning SpaceX's plans to build out the second phase of the constellation with the Starship rocket.
These plans were also at the heart of the FCC's latest order, as the Commission cited Starship test flight failures to reject SpaceX's subsidy application. It also cited redacted data shared by SpaceX to state that the firm did not adequately meet the performance objectives of the award.
In its detailed order, the FCC shared its list of reasons behind the decision to uphold the Wireline Competition Bureau's rejection of Starlink's long-form application for the Rural Digitial Opportunity Fund (RDOF) program. For the RDOF subsidies, SpaceX had to submit two applications - an initial short-form application and a final long-form application.
The short form application, submitted by Starlink, saw the firm receive $855 million in subsidies to provide internet coverage to 642,925 locations spread across 35 American states. After SpaceX won the bid, it then delegated the submission of the long-form application to Starlink, which is SpaceX's subsidiary. The $855 million award was part of a 10-year-long support program, and after the Bureau determined that Starlink would be unable to "deploy a
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