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SpaceX is pushing the Federal Communications Commission to factor Starlink into its annual federal broadband report, sparking concerns that it will impact fiber deployments in rural areas.
The FCC’s annual “Section 706” report looks at US efforts to expand “advanced telecommunications capability” across the country. In the past, the Commission has excluded satellite internet systems, citing their lower adoption rates and capacity limits. Instead, the agency has focused on fixed terrestrial services, such as fiber.
But starting last year, the FCC began inquiring whether it should include satellite internet services, such as Starlink. Last month, FCC Chair Brendan Carr also kicked off a proceeding on whether the commission should reconsider how it treats satellite internet, citing technological advancements.
In response, SpaceX sent a letter to the FCC this week, urging it to start counting Starlink, which currently has over 2 million subscribers in the US. “It is high time that the Commission’s section 706 reports similarly recognize the critical role of satellite services in making high-speed broadband available to all Americans,” the company says.
(Credit: Starlink)
The 8-page letter argues it was wrong and unfair for the FCC to exclude satellite internet based on the capacity concerns when fiber has its own limitations. “Increasing fiber capacity requires physically dragging millions of cables to each endpoint. By contrast, in just a few years, SpaceX has deployed a next-generation satellite service that is readily available throughout the United States today with median subscriber speeds that have increased steadily even as subscriber numbers have grown exponentially,” the company wrote.
The letter adds that Starlink has delivered a “median peak-hour downlink speed in the US of roughly 200Mbps.” Although this is slower than gigabit fiber, SpaceX points out that it’s preparing to upgrade Starlink with gigabit speeds through its upcoming V3 satellites, which promise to “offer a step-change in capacity and service quality for American consumers, including in the many areas where fiber is too expensive or difficult to deploy,” SpaceX says.
If the FCC continues to exclude Starlink, then it risks creating “severe distortions to the Commission’s broadband reports,” SpaceX argues. “These inaccurate reports can then distort policy decisions and lead to inefficient allocation of funds and resources intended to improve access to broadband service.”
(Photo by: Jon G. Fuller/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
But other groups have pushed back, saying the FCC should avoid placing satellite internet on equal footing with fiber. “Any data showing LEO [low-Earth orbit] satellite availability must account for LEO satellites’ technical scalability challenges, which have been well-documented,” the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) told the FCC in its own letter.
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“More to the point, if all households in a given area (or even a significant percentage of them) subscribed to LEO service, would it still meet the bare minimum 100/20 Mbps service threshold? NRECA is concerned that oversubscribed LEO satellite service will fail to serve the telemedicine, distance learning, and other needs of rural consumers.”
WTA Advocates for Rural Broadband expressed similar concerns, citing how Starlink can become oversubscribed in an area, which can reduce broadband speeds. “The largest LEO constellation currently—Starlink—periodically has stopped taking on new subscribers in some areas of the country,” the group says.
“Substitution should require a more detailed qualitative analysis than, ‘Is it there?’ and instead inquire as to whether consumers perceive equivalent capabilities and value when faced with a choice between the alternatives,” added the NTCA —The Rural Broadband Association.
The dispute highlights ongoing concerns about Starlink taking federal funding away from fiber deployments, which has started to occur with the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. So far, Starlink will receive $300 million to serve over 200,000 locations under BEAD, even though the satellite internet service is already available to consumers across the US. Although a bulk of the funding will still go toward fiber, at least $13 billion is being returned to the Commerce Department after it revised the BEAD program to focus on cost savings and “technology neutrality.”
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Gigi Sohn, the Biden administration’s former pick for FCC commissioner, says that if the FCC starts treating Starlink the same as fiber, then it could impact how the commission works to bring high-speed internet to rural and remote areas.
“I think this is about wanting to be in the party, to say ‘Mission Accomplished,’” Sohn says of SpaceX’s letter to the FCC. She also argues that it risks chipping away at the FCC’s Universal Service Fund, which has subsidized internet access in rural areas. “Because if everyone has access, why do you need this high-cost fund?”
FCC Chair Brendan Carr (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Still, Sohn expects Carr to start counting Starlink in future Section 706 reports — which he’s previously said has long been “overdue.” This would come as Carr also plans on abandoning an effort to raise the agency’s benchmark for high-speed internet from 100Mbps to 1Gbps.
“I expect even without satellite, that this FCC will conclude people are getting advanced telecommunications on a reasonable basis,” Sohn says, noting how former FCC Chair Ajit Pai infamously declared that high-speed networks were “being deployed on a reasonable and timely basis” back in 2019, despite conflicting evidence.
Sohn adds, “We have no goal when it comes to broadband. We’re supposed to be happy with 100/20 (internet) speeds? Are you kidding me? That makes the cable industry happy. But it gives them nothing to strive for. They can give yesterday’s service to consumers as though it were today’s.”
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