Elon Musk is escalating his attacks on the FCC with claims that the US regulator has put lives at risk by refusing to provide $886 million in funding for SpaceX’s Starlink.
“If the FCC hadn’t illegally stripped SpaceX Starlink award, it might have saved lives in North Carolina,” Musk tweeted Wednesday. “The law costs lives.”
SpaceX and the US government have sent hundreds of Starlink dishes to help restore internet access to areas hit by Hurricane Helene. On Tuesday, SpaceX began offering residents living in hurricane-ravaged regions one month of free access to satellite Internet service.
At the same time, Musk is arguing that SpaceX might have been able to do more if the FCC hadn’t denied it $886 million in federal funding two years ago.
On Monday, Musk accused the FCC of engaging in “contemptuous political law,” or the act of using legal systems to cripple an opponent. On Wednesday, the SpaceX CEO then took his attacks to a new level by implying that the FCC’s decision put people at risk after catastrophic flooding left them without phone or Internet access and limited opportunities to contact emergency services. The number of dead is currently at 180, AP reports.
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However, the FCC says the $886 million in funding was never revoked; SpaceX simply cleared the initial regulatory hurdle only for the FCC to reject the company’s bid after further review.
“Chairman Rosenworcel stands by the FCC’s comprehensive review of a program aimed at ensuring long-term reliable and affordable broadband access in rural communities,” the commission said in a statement. “In this case, the agency denied public funds to more than a dozen companies — not just Starlink — that did not meet the program’s requirements. As an independent agency, the FCC takes seriously its obligation to ensure that taxpayer dollars go only to entities that are in full compliance with the rules and the law.
The FCC also told us that even if the $886 million in funding had been granted, construction was not expected to begin until after 2025. The other issue is that SpaceX initially asked users in 2022 to pay an upfront fee of $599. buy starlink dish – a condition that prevented the technology from being readily available to consumers based in funding areas.
The commission further questioned what is stopping SpaceX from providing Starlink to hurricane-hit areas without using taxpayer dollars.
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Although SpaceX has temporarily lowered the dish fee to $299 in recent months, the initial cost for Starlink was also a major reason why the FCC denied federal funding. “Starlink’s proposal would require each subscriber to purchase a $600 dish to simply start receiving service,” Rosenworcel told US lawmakers in a February letter. “No other service supported by the program involved such high upfront costs for rural consumers.”
Rosenworcel sent the letter after a group of Republican lawmakers questioned why the FCC had denied funding and rejected SpaceX’s appeal. In response, the FCC Chair said: “Among other things, our technical review showed that Starlink had difficulty meeting the basic uplink and downlink speed standards for the program. Our finding has since been confirmed by the company’s most recent publicly available performance data.”
A primary goal of the FCC’s funding has been to provide gigabit Internet speeds in over 85% of selected rural locations and at least 100 Mbps in download speeds for all 99.7% of locations. Currently, SpaceX’s official website for Starlink indicates that the satellite internet service offers a wide range of speeds, which can vary from 50 Mbps to over 200 Mbps, depending on location.
Regardless of the backlash from the FCC, Musk may get the last word. Presidential candidate Donald Trump says he plans to naming Musk will lead a “government efficiency commission” if he wins re-election in November.
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About Michael Kahn
Senior reporter
