News

Reuters is reporting that President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be FCC chairman believes the commission is unlikely to revisit a decision to withhold funds from Starlink.

By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities

A new report from Reuters has quoted President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as saying the commission is unlikely to reverse course on a previous decision to withhold funds from Starlink.

Starlink, part of SpaceX, was previously denied public support through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program in 2022.

In 2023, the FCC reaffirmed the Wireline Bureau’s decision to deny Starlink’s application.

“It’s very unlikely the FCC would revisit that,” Carr said Thursday to reporters in reference to the decision, according to Reuters.

Reuters reported that Carr cited procedural grounds as the basis for his comments because SpaceX didn’t appeal the decision.

Starlink had won $885,509,638.40 in initial auction results in December 2020 before being denied.

At the time, Rosenworcel said Starlink’s technology “has real promise,” but she raised concerns as well.

“The question before us was whether to publicly subsidize (Starlink’s) still developing technology for consumer broadband—which requires that users purchase a $600 dish—with nearly $900 million in universal service funds until 2032,” she previously said in August 2022.

Carr has previously criticized the FCC’s decision on Starlink as “not one that really makes sense.”

Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, has been a key asset in Trump’s run for the White House.

On Nov. 19, Carr posted a picture on X of himself standing with Musk and Trump at SpaceX’s Starbase for a flight test.

“Congratulations to the SpaceX team on a successful Sixth test flight,” Carr posted. “Another giant leap forward.”

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