Broadband experts said satellite technology is generally cheaper to deploy \u2014 about one-tenth the cost of fiber \u2014 but the service can suffer when used in dense locations or areas with thick tree canopy.<\/p>\n
\u201cLow Earth orbit [LEO] is great. But there\u2019s a lot of issues that haven\u2019t been studied, or considered,\u201d Glenn Fishbine, a partner at Breaking Point Solutions<\/a>, said during Wednesday\u2019s episode of Broadband Breakfast Live Online<\/a>, a weekly panel of experts discussing technology issues. \u201cThis should be implemented with caution. Especially in areas that have no affordable options.\u201d<\/p>\n A Starlink<\/a> residential subscription can cost $120 a month<\/a>. Kuiper<\/a> is still in development, and subscription rates have not been announced. The Kuiper Project is being led by technology giant Amazon.<\/p>\n A Starlink radio beam covers an area of about 63 square miles, Fishbine said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you have more than 419 subscribers in that beam area, you are not going to be getting 100 by 20,\u201d he said, referring to a download speed of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) and an upload speed of 20 Mbps, both set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as benchmarks for broadband.<\/p>\n A June 2025 report from Ookla<\/a>, which provides connectivity intel including broadband speeds, found that only 17.4 percent of U.S. Starlink speed-test users were able to get broadband speeds consistent with the FCC\u2019s minimum requirement.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean that Starlink doesn\u2019t work,\u201d Fishbine said. \u201cIt absolutely is one of the most fantastic technologies out there. But in terms of applying it into the BEAD program as the low-cost solution, without considering density, is potentially a high-risk decision by the states.\u201d Forests and trees, he noted, can \u201cget in the way\u201d of LEO technology.<\/p>\n J. Randolph Luening, founder of Broadband Toolkit<\/a>, a provider of broadband planning infrastructure and services, agreed, saying satellite technology works best \u201cin a very, very sparse area, and uncluttered. \u2026 So you think of it as a Western state in the middle of the desert.\u201d<\/p>\n Fiber technology remains the gold standard for broadband infrastructure, Luening said, particularly in urbanized areas, with satellite being used \u201cin very low-density areas.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s unfortunately not likely to emerge from BEAD, just because in most cases, the state is awarding sort of one specific technology per build area,\u201d Luening said during the panel.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is an explosion of satellite bids in many states as part of the \u2018Benefit of the Bargain\u2019 round,\u201d Luening said in a follow-up email, referring to new BEAD<\/a> grant rules where states are required to make their BEAD grants available to all broadband technologies.<\/p>\n A lingering concern among broadband technology watchers is the cost for consumers. Biden-era requirements to ensure the availability of low-cost service plans were stripped from the new rules. A Starlink subscription is generally more costly than standard terrestrial-based technologies.<\/p>\n \u201cThe next big broadband issue will be affordability,\u201d Fishbine said, citing the cost of LEO subscription plans. \u201cThe equipment may be cheap, but the monthly subscriptions are out of the range of a lot of people, especially in rural areas. So, the next issue will be, can you afford it?\u201d<\/p>\n
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