SES, Viasat say FCC’s rural broadband latency requirements unfair to satellites

Satellite operators want to participate in a newly proposed $20.4 billion rural broadband program, but say the Federal Communications Commission’s scoring criteria for signal lag puts them at a disadvantage. The FCC is seeking to connect upwards of 4 million US homes and small businesses through a new program called the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund that would subsidize broadband in underserved regions from 2020 to 2030. But companies who can’t provide service with 100 milliseconds or less latency will get a 40-point penalty, making it more difficult for them to compete for funds. In the FCC’s most recent rural broadband program, the $1.49 billion Connect America Fund 2, Viasat was the only satellite operator to receive any funding ($122 million). Hughes Network Systems, Viasat’s top competitor in the US satellite broadband market, refused to bid for Connect America funding in 2018, citing disagreements with the scoring criteria. SpaceX also chose not to bid, after initially signaling interest. Viasat, in a Sept. 20 letter to the FCC released Sept. 23, said it chose to participate in the Connect America Fund 2 program despite “substantial handicaps imposed on satellite broadband providers in that auction,” chief being a 25% scoring penalty for latency. The company said the 40% latency penalty being considered for the new Rural Digital Opportunity Fund is “unsustainable as a policy matter,” and would essentially mean geosynchronous satellite operators have little if any participation.