The FCC recently rejected a $885.5 million bailout offer for SpaceX through Elon Musk’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. The subsidy was intended to support Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet, but the agency said Musk “failed to demonstrate” that his company could deliver on its promises.
Engadget reports that Starlink, the satellite internet company led by Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX, recently withdrew a $885.5 million bailout through the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. The FCC said it “could not show” that the broadband provider could provide the alleged service.
Elon Musk poses at SpaceX (The Pool/Getty)
FCC Chairman Jessica Rosenworsel said Starlink had “real hopes”, but the agency said it could not justify 10 years of “technology development” subsidies that required users to own a $600 satellite dish. She noted that the FCC is working to make the most of “scarce” funding for broadband expansion.
In December 2020, SpaceX won an auction grant bid. The company said it will use subsidies to serve 35 locations and promised prices, in line with terrestrial broadband, and meet “periodic” service expansion requirements.
LTD Broadband, a fixed wireless provider, raised more than $1.3 billion in this auction, but lost another bid this week. The FCC said the company was “not competent enough” to deliver the internet services it promised after losing status in seven states.
SpaceX’s refusal of the FCC subsidy isn’t necessarily a major blow to the company’s plans, but Elon Musk’s longstanding method of funding private companies with government subsidies may not continue to work as before.
Source: Breitbart
