The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) confirmed on Tuesday that it will not allocate US$886 million (approximately 6.4 billion yuan) from the General Service Fund to subsidize Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starlink Internet service. The subsidy was intended to expand broadband service in rural areas of the United States, but Starlink did not meet the FCC's requirements.
The FCC said the subsidy was supposed to be provided by the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program (RDOF), but Starlink was unable to "demonstrate that it can provide the services promised." The FCC stated that funds in the General Service Fund are inherently limited, and providing subsidies to Starlink is not the "best use" of these funds.
In 2022, the FCC refused to provide subsidies for Starlink for the same reason. SpaceX appealed the decision at the time, calling the FCC's decision "extremely unfair." The FCC's decision Tuesday came in response to SpaceX's appeal. In 2020, SpaceX initially won the tender and received $886 million in subsidies to launch "low-latency internet" with 100Mbps download speeds and 20Mbps upload speeds in 642,925 locations in 35 states. However, after an in-depth evaluation, the FCC believes that Starlink cannot deliver on its services.
FCC Chairman Jessica Rosenworcel said: "The FCC's mission is to ensure that consumers across the United States have access to reliable and affordable high-speed broadband. After a careful legal, technical and policy review, the FCC determined that the applicant (Starlink) failed to demonstrate that it can meet the standards and is therefore ineligible to receive nearly $900 million in Universal Service Fund subsidies over nearly a decade."