Starlink operator SpaceX is fighting Virginia’s plan to deploy fiber Internet service to residents, claiming that federal grant money should be given to Starlink instead. SpaceX is already in line to win over $3 million in grant money in the state but is seeking $60 million.
Starlink is poised to benefit from the Trump administration rewriting rules for the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant program. While the Biden administration decided that states should prioritize fiber in order to build more future-proof networks, the Trump administration ordered states to revise their plans with a “tech-neutral approach” and lower the average cost of serving each location.
What a weird hill to die on. Is it about letting people die or about influencers livestreaming?
What about comms during catastrophies? Small villages or off-grid houses? Remote research installations?
I swear, Lemmy is becoming more reactionary by the day.
It’s about needless overreach. None of those reasons you listed justify constellations of 10k+ satellites in LEO just for internet access. That is an unmitigated global disaster in the making. Solutions to all of that exist. Radios work for comms in disasters right now and have for decades. Governments should simply run fiber to every small town and village. It’s far cheaper. If someone has an off-grid house, they know what they’re getting into. Remote research installations are a niche case and simply do not justify a global satellite network on their own, not when all the other cases listed fail to justify it as well. If they really need to upload data from deep afield, they could always put up a few dedicated satellites just for their own use.
If somebody wants to travel to or live and work in a remote area, that also doesn’t justify such a network. They’re doing that to get away, not to stay connected. They are taking the risks that come with it.