{"id":82292,"date":"2025-08-14T13:43:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T13:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/82292\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T13:43:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T13:43:13","slug":"spacex-slams-virginia-for-overlooking-starlink-in-states-broadband-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/82292\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX Slams Virginia for Overlooking Starlink in State’s Broadband Funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

SpaceX is protesting Virginia\u2019s $613 million plan to expand high-speed internet access, accusing the state of deliberately denying a larger slice of the subsidies to Starlink<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the company blasted Virginia\u2019s plan as a \u201cmassive waste of federal taxpayer money\u201d after the state chose Starlink for just 5,579 of the total 133,000 locations slated for subsidized broadband installations.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimply put, Virginia has put its heavy thumb on the scale in favor of expensive, slow-to-build fiber bias over speedy, low cost, and technology neutral competition,\u201d the company told the state\u2019s government in a 7-page letter<\/a> shared with the media.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cVirginia must immediately revise its final proposal to appropriately consider applications received in line with program rules,\u201d the letter adds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Fiber<\/p>\n

\n (Photo by Silas Stein\/picture alliance via Getty Images)\n<\/p>\n

The dispute involves $42.5 billion to fund high-speed internet in underserved areas called the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. In June, the Trump administration overhauled<\/a> the program to shift away from prioritizing fiber installations for \u201ctechnology neutrality,\u201d opening the door for satellite internet services and fixed wireless to receive more of the federal funding from each state\u2019s BEAD program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But despite the policy change, Virginia\u2019s recently announced BEAD proposal relies mostly<\/a> on fiber, rather than satellite, for the state\u2019s underserved areas. Under the plan, Starlink will receive $3.2 million in funding or what amounts to about $584 per site \u2014a sharp contrast from the more expensive, but faster fiber installations that can cost around $6,000 to $8,000 per site. <\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s letter from SpaceX reveals the company wanted \u201cto serve virtually every BEAD-eligible household in Virginia with high-speed broadband for $60 million dollars, available to Virginians immediately.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, Virginia proposes to spend $613 million dollars for connectivity that will be deployed at some point within the next four years, if ever, resulting in taxpayers overspending for connectivity in Virginia by ten times the necessary amount,\u201d SpaceX added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"BEAD<\/p>\n

\n (www.dhcd.virginia.gov)\n<\/p>\n

In the letter, SpaceX goes on to claim Virginia\u2019s BEAD plan \u201cfailed to observe technology neutrality,\u201d and argues Starlink could deliver the same results faster and \u201cat one tenth of the cost.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Final Proposal makes clear that Virginia began with a pre-ordained result and then overlaid a paper-thin veneer of \u2018analysis\u2019 to unlawfully achieve its preferred outcome \u2014maximum taxpayer spending benefiting specific companies and a misapplication of competitive rules,\u201d the company added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Virginia\u2019s BEAD program didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment. But according<\/a> to state documents, Virginia used factors such as \u201ctree cover,\u201d along with \u201cspeed, latency, and scalability\u201d in contracting the ISPs for each BEAD location. That could\u2019ve caused Virginia to favor more expensive fiber installations since they can supply gigabit internet speeds and function under heavy tree cover. <\/p>\n

In contrast, Starlink can offer internet speeds from 100Mbps to over 300Mbps. Although each Starlink dish requires a view of the sky to receive the broadband, SpaceX recently introduced<\/a> an upgrade to help the satellite internet perform better under trees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Recommended by Our Editors<\/p>\n

SpaceX\u2019s letter goes as far to urge the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration to deny Virginia\u2019s final proposal unless revisions are made.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Commerce Department didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment. But the agency will need to clear Virginia\u2019s BEAD proposal before funding can be awarded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Starlink<\/p>\n

\n (Brian Westover)\n<\/p>\n

Although the dispute risks holding up Virginia\u2019s BEAD program, SpaceX wrote in the company’s letter: \u201cThese efforts will not delay BEAD households from receiving much-needed connectivity but will accelerate the program by prioritizing lowest-cost awards to providers like SpaceX that are already deployed and are ready to enroll customers tomorrow, instead of waiting years for terrestrial deployments to materialize.\u201d<\/p>\n

SpaceX sent the letter after Louisiana\u2019s government also awarded<\/a> most of its BEAD funding to fiber providers over Starlink. The company didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment about whether it\u2019ll also challenge Louisiana’s BEAD proposal.<\/p>\n

The protest occurs when others critics have denounced<\/a> the Commerce Department for overhauling the BEAD program to potentially take funds away from faster fiber installations. The Benton Institute for Broadband and Society has also noted<\/a> that under the BEAD program revisions, SpaceX is only required to provide a free Starlink dish for eligible locations and reserve internet capacity. In addition, the revised BEAD program has revoked<\/a> a state’s ability to set the pricing for internet plans meant for low-income users.<\/p>\n

About Michael Kan<\/p>\n

\n Senior Reporter\n <\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

I’ve been working as a journalist for over 15 years\u2014I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017.<\/p>\n

\n
\n Read Michael’s full bio
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Read the latest from Michael Kan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SpaceX is protesting Virginia\u2019s $613 million plan to expand high-speed internet access, accusing the state of deliberately denying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[79,193],"class_list":["post-82292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}