In a regulatory filing, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has challenged the Federal Communications Commission’s rejection of $885.5 million in subsidies for rural broadband networks.<\/p>\n
It has called the action flawed and grossly unfair, and accused the FCC of miscalculating Starlink, a fast-growing network of more than 3,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit and tens of thousands of users in the United States who pay at least $599 for a user terminal and $110 a month for service.<\/p>\n
The FCC last month rejected applications from SpaceX, the owners of Starlink and LTD Broadband, for funds granted in 2020 under the commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.<\/p>\n
The fund initially approved more than $5 billion in funding to primarily provide gigabit broadband services to more than 3 million sites in 47 states.<\/p>\n
SpaceX was supposed to receive $885.5 million of that funding to beam satellite internet in U.S. regions with few to no internet connections and provide 100\/20 Mbps service to 642,925 locations in 35 states.<\/p>\n
As a result, David Goldman, senior director of satellite policy at SpaceX, wrote in the appeal that the decision appeared to have been made in the service of a clear bias toward fiber, rather than a merit-based decision to actually connect Americans with almost no access to internet.<\/p>\n