Starlink and Broadband Subsidies

The House Oversight Committee recently decided to investigate the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision in 2022 to deny Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) funding to Starlink. The timing of this announcement clearly has political overtones since it was announced as Elon Musk took the stage at a campaign event with one of the presidential candidates. RDOF was awarded using a reverse auction, where the provider willing to take the lowest amount of subsidy winning the funding. RDOF had two key requirements—the ability to deliver broadband of at least 100/20 Mbps, and the ability to serve every home and business inside a Census block that got the award. Starlink was ultimately rejected on the speed issue, but it could have been rejected on the coverage issue as well. The issue with coverage is that not everybody is a good candidate for Starlink. Reception is hindered by hills and by heavy foliage, which makes it unreliable in places like Appalachia, and much of the mountainous West and Southwest.