The U.S. Federal Communication Commission (FCC) will not reinstate SpaceX’s Starlink subsidy reward from 2020.
President-elect Donald Trump named Brendan Carr the incoming FCC Commissioner Chair on January 20, 2025. Carr told reporters, “It’s very unlikely the FCC would revisit that.”
He was referring to Starlink’s appeal to reverse the agency’s decision on its subsidy reward. The incoming FCC chair noted that SpaceX had not sought a further appeal or reconsideration of the agency’s decision, so there would be no procedural grounds to reinstate the Starlink subsidy.
Background on FCC’s Starlink Subsidy
In December 2020, SpaceX was awarded $855.5 million from the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunities Fund. At the time, SpaceX sought funding to provide satellite internet services via Starlink to nearly 650,000 locations across 35 states.
However, in 2022, SpaceX was denied from securing its subsidy reward from the FCC. The agency rejected SpaceX’s application for broadband subsidies, citing that the aerospace company failed to meet the program’s requirements and convince the FCC to fund risky proposals.
In a press release, the FCC noted that SpaceX has “failed to demonstrate that providers could deliver the promised service.”
It also stated: “Funding these vast proposed networks would not be the best use of limited Universal Service Fund dollars to bring broadband to unserved areas across the United States, the Commission concluded.”
At the time, FCC Commissioner Brenden Carr called out the agency for denying Starlink’s award. In a post on X—which was Twitter at the time— Carr stated that refusing to fund Starlike would leave rural Americans “waiting on the wrong side of the digital divide.”
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