Get the latest tech news

Starlink wants billions in grants, but state governments aren’t cooperating


Despite Trump’s backing, states aren’t giving Starlink the money it demanded.

Musk clearly expected a big windfall; as we've written, SpaceX alleges that Virginia and Louisiana violated the Trump administration's rules by allocating most of the money to fiber providers instead of Starlink's satellite service. An earlier version of West Virginia's plan would have spent $946 million in BEAD funding to serve about 110,000 locations with fiber, but the state scaled it back to meet the Trump administration mandate to lower costs. "Many states are skeptical that giving money to satellite actually provides their residents anything they don't already have," New Street Research analyst Blair Levin, who was the FCC's chief of staff from 1993 to 1997 and oversaw development of the agency's National Broadband Plan in 2010, told Ars this week.

Get the Android app

Or read this on r/technology

Read more on:

Photo of Starlink

Starlink

Photo of billions

billions

Photo of grants

grants

Related news:

News photo

Alaska Air will offer Starlink in-flight internet starting next year

News photo

China’s Guowang megaconstellation is more than another version of Starlink: "This is a strategy to keep the US from intervening... that's what their space architecture is designed to do."

News photo

Starlink Urges Change to South African Black Ownership Rules