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FCC has 'serious doubts' about SpaceX's broadband service
- ryzvonusef 6y ago"Elon Musk's SpaceX has a month to convince officials at the Federal Communications Commission that its service is up to snuff to participate in an upcoming auction for government subsidies to deliver broadband to rural parts of the country. The agency said it has "serious doubts" that low-Earth orbit satellite providers, like SpaceX, will be able to meet latency requirements to qualify for participation in the auction. https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-20-77A1.pdf https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-20-77A1.pdf The agency made these assertions in a report published last week detailing the requirements and procedures for the first phase of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction set to begin in October. The FCC said it would allow low-Earth orbit satellite companies to apply for funds as low-latency broadband providers, but it said it was doubtful these companies could meet the sub-100 milliseconds latency requirement. "
- mikece 6y agoWhile it would be nice if SpaceX gets the rural broadband money, will it really hurt their business prospects? I can't think of another product or service where LITERALLY the entire population of the planet are potential customers without some other prerequisite (unlike e-commerce where you first need a device with a connection and a logistics/transport system to ship something to you). Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if the NSA weren't covertly funding Starlink in exchange for USMIL early access to communications services as well as access to metadata for national security purposes.