FCC's Carr Assails SpaceX RDOF Denial
The FCC's rejection of SpaceX's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction long-form application earlier this month (see 2208100050) shows "clear error and plainly exceeds agency authority," Commissioner Brendan Carr said Wednesday. It "leave[s] families waiting on the wrong side…
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of the digital divide when we have the technology to get them high-speed service today," he said. He said FCC arguments that Starlink uses untested technology "do not bear out" given it has three more years to meet the speed benchmarks and the company is already exceeding them in other countries. He said criticisms about Starlink's pricing ring hollow when the agency provides universal service awards "for far slower internet services that cost customers far more." The commissioner said bringing fiber to the communities Starlink was to cover will likely cost about $3 billion, vs. the $885 million in support that was going to go to SpaceX. Carr said the RDOF decision "plainly exceeds" the scope of the FCC's limited authority to review the 2020 award. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's office and SpaceX didn't comment. In a response Wednesday to California Public Utilities Commission Administrative Law Judge Seaneen Wilson, SpaceX said it's still looking at its options for seeking reconsideration or review of the FCC decision. It asked that, despite that uncertainty, the PUC still go forward with granting it a certificate of public convenience and necessity as an eligible telecommunications carrier. The PUC had asked if SpaceX still wanted a CPCN and eligible telecom carrier designation after the RDOF rejection (see 2208230008).