The FCC denied a $ 886 million grant to SpaceX. The company had participated in a bid to bring the internet to rural areas of the country.
The FCC denied a $ 886 million grant to SpaceX . “The company has not been able to demonstrate that it is able to provide us with the requested service,” commented a spokesperson for the US agency.
Elon Musk’s company participated in a bid to bring high-speed internet to rural areas of the United States of America. SpaceX was supposed to bring broadband connection to low-density areas not reached by traditional network infrastructures. The company had proposed to do this using its Starlink satellites .
The United States government has allocated 9.2 billion dollars in an attempt to reduce the digital gap between the big cities and the set of areas – from the countryside to the mountains – now cut off from the latest generation fiber optic infrastructures. The company LTD Broadband also participated in the tender promoted as part of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund initiative , however, obtaining the same fortune as SpaceX: request denied. No subsidies paid by taxpayers.
We have a limited number of resources available and it is our duty to use them in the best possible way. We cannot afford subsidiary initiatives that are not able to guarantee the promised speeds or that are unlikely to be able to meet the requirements set by the call.
explained Jessica Rosenworcel, president of the FCC. “Starlink has great potential,” she added, “but it makes no sense to finance a technology that is still under development.”
