Elon Musk’s Starlink denied $900M rural broadband subsidy

Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service was rejected again for a nearly $886 million rural broadband subsidy, after the Federal Communications Commission said it “failed to demonstrate that it could deliver the promised service” to underserved areas of the country - the second time Starlink’s bid for the subsidy was denied, Report informs referring to Forbes.

The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program, which the subsidy was offered through, is a multi-billion dollar program that provides public funds to companies to provide internet service in areas not served by private internet service providers due to distance or because it is expensive.

The RDOF completed a two-step process, including a short-form application and a long-form application, to determine if Starlink could actually provide the service required to receive the subsidy.

Starlink qualified through the less extensive short-form application, which did not require it to find and list specific areas it would provide with service.

However, in the second stage of the process, the FCC concluded that Starlink failed to show it could meet its obligations to provide high-speed internet service to enough rural areas.

A dissent by FCC commissioner Brendan Carr said Starlink needed to show it could provide service to at least 40% of roughly 640,000 rural areas by the end of 2025.