‘Partisan politics’ is why FCC revoked Starlink’s rural internet award

The decision last year by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reaffirm its revocation of an award to SpaceX’s Starlink to help connect rural homes and businesses to the internet is drawing criticism in the wake of the FCC chair’s call for more competition against Starlink.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told FOX Business in an interview, “You have an agency that in 2023 says that Starlink is not reasonably capable of providing high-speed internet. And then in 2024, they’re saying it’s so capable of providing high-speed internet that we’re going to toss the word monopoly out there. There’s just no way to sort of, I don’t think, square what’s going on here with a fair application of the law or the facts, it just looks like partisan politics in my view.”

“I’ve got no problem with anyone saying we need more competition, I’m for more competition. But I think it crosses the line when you just casually float the word monopoly out there,” Carr said. “Was it said that they are a monopoly? No, but the word monopoly was used in the same speech as saying we need more competition with Starlink.”

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Starlink terminals access the internet via satellite connections. (Photo Illustration by Scott Olson/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Four years ago, the FCC launched an initiative that awarded grants to expand high-speed internet access around the country, with SpaceX’s Starlink winning an $885 million award to connect over 640,000 homes and businesses. The agency rescinded the award in 2022, arguing Starlink wouldn’t be reasonably capable of meeting program requirements, and reaffirmed that decision in Dec. 2023.

When that decision was reaffirmed last year, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said the “FCC followed a careful legal, technical and policy review to determine that this applicant had failed to meet its burden to be entitled to nearly $900 million” in funds under the program. However, Rosenworcel is now raising concerns about Starlink’s market position in providing internet service via satellites and cited issues with monopolies.

Rosenworcel said at a conference last week that Starlink has “almost two-thirds of the satellites that are in space right now and has a very high portion of internet traffic… Our economy doesn’t benefit from monopolies. So we’ve got to invite many more space actors in, many more companies that can develop constellations and innovations in space.”

She went on to say that “every communications market that has competition is strong, we see lower prices and more innovation, and honestly, space should be no exception.” Rosenworcel added that the FCC is helping new entrants understand how the agency works and handles license applications: “Outreach has really become a part…