Elon Musk-led SpaceX has written a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), urging the agency to end the High-Cost program aimed at providing connectivity to rural areas via subsidies for internet service providers (ISPs).
SpaceX Says It Has Solved Connectivity Issues
On Saturday, PCMag reported that it had accessed a letter to the FCC dated May 13 by SpaceX, where the commercial space flight giant said that connectivity issues for “high-speed broadband network access” have “effectively been solved” by SpaceX’s satellite internet service provider Starlink.
The High-Cost program provides funding for internet service providers in rural areas to provide access to rural customers at low costs. SpaceX also pointed towards the launch of Amazon.com Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:AMZN) satellite internet service, Leo, this year.
“Satellite broadband already delivers comparable performance to terrestrial broadband at competitive rates in line with the objectives of the High-Cost Program, and it will only become more capable over time,” the letter said, urging the FCC to “redirect” the funds to other universal programs.
Starlink Funding, Lower Revenue Deals
The letter comes as FCC Chair Brendan Carr had earlier shared that the previous President Joe Biden administration had rescinded over $885 million in funding to Starlink, saying that the administration did not believe the service would be able to achieve high-speed internet.
Meanwhile, Musk recently shared that SpaceX “deliberately” signed deals with airlines offering lower revenues for Starlink in a bid to keep the service accessible to passengers. Notably, SpaceX’s VP of Starlink Engineering, Michael Nicolls, recently shared that the latest satellite terminals for in-flight Wi-Fi can support peak speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second.
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