SpaceX’s Starlink is poised to receive $661 million in government funds as all 50 states move forward with their plans to expand high-speed internet in underserved regions.
California submitted its final proposal for a cut of the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program this week, the last US state to do so. So, we now have a better understanding of how the US will allocate the funds, which are already being distributed.
Wes Robinson, a director at Texas-based Eastex Telephone Cooperative, has been tracking the numbers from each state’s BEAD proposal and found that close to $1 billion will go to satellite services, including Starlink and its upcoming competitor Amazon Leo.
(Credit: Wes Robinson)
The proposed $660.6 million for Starlink will be used to deliver satellite internet to 478,073 locations across the US. Amazon Leo, formerly Project Kuiper, is set to receive $302.4 million to deliver satellite broadband to 415,479 locations.
This means the two satellite providers will serve over 893,000 locations, or about 22.5% of all the underserved locations covered by the BEAD program. However, the majority of funds—or 63%—will go to faster but more expensive fiber connections; the remaining will be for fixed wireless and hybrid fiber-coaxial.
(Credit: Wes Robinson)
California, Colorado, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, and Wyoming picked satellite internet to serve 40% or more of their locations. Montana is the highest at 65%.
California will spend the most money at $164 million. In the Golden State, SpaceX is set to receive $63 million to serve close to 46,000 locations, while Amazon is on track to get nearly $101 million for over 92,000 locations.
The funding is a win for SpaceX and Amazon. It gives them a way to reach more US users, even though Amazon’s satellite internet service hasn’t launched yet. It comes after the Trump administration overhauled the BEAD program in June to prioritize “technology neutrality,” in an effort to reduce costs and allow satellite providers to capture a larger share of the funding, rather than just fiber networks.
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But some criticized Trump’s revamp, arguing that fiber can offer faster gigabit speeds than Starlink without any network congestion issues. Others have questioned why federal funding should go toward Starlink, which is already available across the US to any interested user.
(Credit: Brian Westover/PCMag)
Under BEAD, SpaceX and Amazon are only required to provide a free satellite dish to underserved areas and reserve network capacity. It’s unclear if they will offer cheaper plans, although SpaceX just announced a $40-per-month Residential 100Mbps plan. In addition, both companies are working to provide gigabit speeds through their orbiting satellites.
SpaceX had also lobbied some US states, complaining that too much of their BEAD funding is going toward fiber rather than cheaper satellite internet. The BEAD proposals show that some fiber installations can cost $10,000 or more per location. In contrast, states plan on paying an average of $724 and $1,381 to Amazon and SpaceX per location, respectively.
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The BEAD proposals also demonstrate that the Trump administration achieved its goal of reducing the costs of broadband deployments. According to Robinson’s numbers, about half of the BEAD funds, at $21 billion, remained unspent.
On Tuesday, a US official overseeing the BEAD program, Arielle Roth, also touted the $21 billion savings. “We haven’t made any decisions yet, but stay tuned,” she said on how the remaining funds will be used. “We’ll have much more to share in early 2026.”
Robinson noted his numbers only track the finalized BEAD proposal from the US states, not potential tweaks the Commerce Department might make to each plan before final approval. So, it’s possible the overall funding amounts could change, although it might only be a little, as Texas’s BEAD approval shows.
So far, Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration has approved 29 BEAD proposals. It’s then up to the National Institute of Standards and Technology to approve the budget and issue the award amendment, which has already occurred for Louisiana.
Although all 50 states have submitted their final proposals to the BEAD program, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands have yet to do so.
About Our Expert
Michael Kan
Senior Reporter
Experience
I’ve been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I’m currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country’s technology sector.
Since 2020, I’ve covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I’ve combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink’s cellular service.
I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. Earlier this year, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.
I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I’m now following how President Trump’s tariffs will affect the industry. I’m always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.
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