{"id":52183,"date":"2023-12-14T01:55:35","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T17:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/fcc-denies-spacex-appeal-for-starlink-rdof-funding\/"},"modified":"2023-12-14T01:55:35","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T17:55:35","slug":"fcc-denies-spacex-appeal-for-starlink-rdof-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/fcc-denies-spacex-appeal-for-starlink-rdof-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"FCC Denies SpaceX Appeal for Starlink RDOF Funding"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

The FCC<\/b> reaffirmed its 2022 decision to cancel Starlink funding for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, in an order issued Tuesday. Both Republican FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington issued dissents, and SpaceX<\/strong> said it \u201cvehemently\u201d disagrees with the decision. <\/p>\n

At issue was the FCC dropping Starlink internet service from the first phase of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, which subsidizes internet service in rural areas. The FCC initially awarded SpaceX $885.5 million over 10 years to connect more than 600,000 sites in 35 states. Then in August 2022, the FCC canceled SpaceX\u2019s funding after the Wireline Bureau determined the constellation \u201cfailed to demonstrate\u201d that it could deliver the service that was promised. SpaceX appealed the decision in September 2022. <\/p>\n

The FCC said in a Dec. 12 statement it reviewed the Wireline Bureau\u2019s decision to pull funding and \u201cconcluded that Starlink is not reasonably capable of offering the required high-speed, low latency service throughout the areas where it won auction support.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FCC\u2019s decision has a fair amount of redactions, but indicates there were issues with how to evaluate a system that is in the process of being built. The FCC acknowledged there was some initial skepticism that Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite systems would be able to offer low-latency service, but that was not the basis for the decision. <\/p>\n

One issue was Starlink speeds. The FCC used Ookla speed tests from 2021 and 2022, which reportedly showed declining download and upload speeds. SpaceX took issue in the appeal with the speed tests and argued the system would be able to meet the required speeds of 100\/20 Mbps by 2025, when RDOF commitments start. <\/p>\n

The FCC pointed out that there is no existing data that can show what Starlink speeds will be in 2025, and no other LEO satellite networks offering widespread service. <\/p>\n

The FCC also affirmed the Wireline Bureau\u2019s concerns about the Starship rocket. SpaceX has said Starship will deploy the second generation of Starlink satellites, but the rocket has not yet been proven. The FCC said there are concerns that the uncertainty of future Starship launches could impact the ability to meet RDOF obligations. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe agency has a responsibility to be a good steward of limited public funds meant to expand access to rural broadband, not fund applicants that fail to meet basic program requirements,\u201d Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement, adding that this decision came after a  careful legal, technical and policy review. <\/p>\n

Commissioner Carr disagreed with the FCC\u2019s reasoning on speed tests, saying the FCC made up an \u201centirely new standard of review that no entity could ever pass.\u201d Carr argued that Starlink is not obligated to be able to provide that level of service today, and award winners have never been required to meet a standard years in advance. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe FCC is purporting to make a prediction about the trajectory that Starlink\u2019s LEO system is on, but it is not using any evidence that is tailored to making such a prediction,\u201d Carr wrote. \u201cComparing speed test snapshots from two, cherry-picked moments in time and using those to predict how Starlink would likely perform years down the road and at particular U.S. locations is not a credible methodology.\u201d <\/p>\n

Carr also pointed out that the Department of Defense has confidence in Starlink and awarded SpaceX a large contract for a military adaptation of Starlink known as Starshield. <\/p>\n

SpaceX submitted a response to the FCC, saying the company is \u201cdeeply disappointed and perplexed\u201d by the decision. Overall, SpaceX said the FCC ignored its ability to quickly expand and upgrade its network, and the company is rapidly expanding the number of satellites and the capabilities of the satellites. <\/p>\n

At this point, SpaceX argues it has the ability to provide service to its RDOF locations at the required speeds, while other program winners are asking for extensions. <\/p>\n

\u201cStarlink can now provide service to more people in more U.S. locations than any other satellite internet service provider,\u201d Christopher Cardaci, vice president of legal said in the filing for SpaceX. \u201cThis year alone, Starlink has nearly doubled the number of Americans on the network. Starlink can already provide high-speed, low-latency service in otherwise unserved locations within days of a customer placing an order, an outcome that no other RDOF winner can come close to matching.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cardaci argued the FCC\u2019s decision goes against the goal of bridging the digital divide. <\/p>\n

\u201cStarlink is arguably the only viable option to immediately connect many of the Americans who live and work in the rural and remote areas of the country where high-speed, low-latency internet has been unreliable, unaffordable, or completely unavailable, the very people RDOF was supposed to connect,\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The FCC reaffirmed its 2022 decision to cancel Starlink funding for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, in an order issued Tuesday. Both Republican FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington issued dissents, and SpaceX said it \u201cvehemently\u201d disagrees with the decision.  At issue was the FCC dropping Starlink internet service from the first phase of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52183"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}