Viasat Sends Letter to FCC Regarding Starlink's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Commitments

On July 13, Viasat wrote to the Federal Communications Commission regarding SpaceX's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) commitments. "Viasat writes to update the record with respect to the continued inability of the authorized Starlink system to satisfy SpaceX’s RDOF commitments," said the letter. According to Viasat, Starlink cannot support the 100/20 Mbps service it is required to serve to its RDOF-covered households, and this is "because of its own system design limitations that cannot be overcome by launching more satellites." The company continues, "The past two years have afforded the Commission ample opportunity to observe the performance of the Starlink system under such 'real-world conditions.' The record clearly reflects that Starlink is not meeting RDOF performance requirements, and that Starlink is unable to do so because of its own system design limitations...Under these circumstances, there is simply no rational basis upon which the Commission could grant SpaceX’s long-form RDOF application."