SpaceX’s Starlink program aimed at flashing the fast-paced Broadband internet from space will receive $ 900 million in joint funding to help bring its work to rural homes and businesses in the US.
As part of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, SpaceX will receive $ 885 million over the next decade to help build its Starlink service using a stellar group — a growing number of small sites around the Internet across the US and potentially circulating globally.
The FCC has provided $ 800 million to $ 180 million for the First Division, with an additional $ 11.2 billion to be allocated in the next phase.
The FCC said this week that recipients of the money will use it to deliver Broadband speeds to more than 5.2 million unprotected homes and businesses in the US, adding that “99.7% of these sites will be receiving Broadband at speeds of up to 100 megabits per second, with the majority (more than 85%) receiving gigabit-speed broadband. ”
The commission added that the funding was part of a larger effort to “close the digital divide in the United States and to monitor global investment in unprotected areas in need of support.”
Commenting on the financial support, FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement: “I am delighted with the remarkable success of this auction, which brings welcome news to the millions of non-digital Americans who have long been on the non-digital side,” adding that they are now waiting for a better chance. high-end, high-end bandit service. “
SpaceX sent its first batch of Stlinklink satellites in the deep-Earth obbit in the spring of 2019 and has since delivered another 900 or so on its way to the full-scale opening of the Broadband service that shines from space. While more satellites will be needed to launch the global service, the SpaceX galaxy has reached a staggering summer that allowed independent testing to begin, while last month launched a public beta program for selected US customers. The beta system is said to have paid $ 499 for the required equipment and installation, plus with a monthly fee of $ 99.
As for SpaceX, the FCC funding is a vote of confidence in its location-based Starlink technology, which is still in the early stages of development.
Only three companies received more than SpaceX in the FCC phase of Phase I funding, namely LTD Broadband, Charter Communications, and Rural Electric Cooperative Consortium, which received $ 1.3 billion, $ 1.2 billion, and $ 1.1 billion, respectively.
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