SpaceX, the Starlink satellite Internet operator, is trying to block the Virginia state plan to expand access to fiber -optic communication. Instead, she offers to send more federal grants on satellite Internet.
Now Starlink is already receiving $ 3.26 million for connecting 5,579 addresses, but the company asks $ 60 million, claiming that it will be able to provide almost all in need of the state without a long construction of infrastructure, like fiber networks.
The SpaceX position is based on changes in the Bead federal program, which, under the Trump administration, made it “technologically neutral” and reduced the requirements for the connection cost. Earlier, the Biden administration recommended that they take the priority of fiber as a more durable decision.
Virginia plans to allocate $ 613.3 million to connect 133,472 addresses, while most of the funds will go on fiber fiber. According to state authorities, satellite technologies can suffer from interference, delays and limited throughput, which makes them less reliable in the long run.
SpaceX believes that the conditions of the competition were initially unfair to satellite operators, and claims that Starlink is already working next to most addresses that are planned to be connected under the program.
