Starlink’s financing for Rural Internet Gets Rejected by The FCC
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has declined Starlink’s application for $885 million in federal subsidies to provide satellite internet to broadband consumers in rural areas. The FCC points out the SpaceX-owned firm’s $600 dish and states that Starlink “failed to demonstrate” that it “could deliver the promised service.”
The financing is part of a wider $9.2 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund that motivates telecommunications businesses to expand internet service to rural and underserved areas. In 2020, Starlink won an initial $885.5 million assistance as part of a Stage 1 rollout of the program. The FCC additionally declined LTD Broadband’s bid for the financing after it acquired $1.3 billion in 2020.
FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel clarifies that “Starlink’s technology has real promise”. However, “the question before us was whether to publicly subsidize its still developing technology for consumer broadband– which requires that users purchase a $600 dish– with nearly $900 million in universal service funds until 2032.”
Starlink previously raised the cost of its starter package and internet service this year. To get started, Starlink customers currently need to pay a $599 upfront fee for the satellite dish (nicknamed Dishy McFlatface) in addition to the $110 monthly price for internet service. ( formerly, it cost $499 for the starter package and $99 monthly.).
in 2021, the FCC alerted Starlink and other firms that aids could not be used to add connectivity to “parking lots and well-served urban environments.” A media policy organization, Free Press report disclosed that $111 million of Starlink’s financing was aimed at urban areas that did not require the extra connectivity. In an initiative to “clean up” the program, the FCC asked suppliers to quit financing for locations not looking for service.
Originally published by: The Verge
