SpaceX Appeals RDOF Rejection, Simington Signals Support
The FCC's rejection of SpaceX's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction long-form application (see 2208100050) “is so broken it is hard not to see it as an improper attempt” to undo the prior FCC’s decision to permit satellite broadband…
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service providers to participate in RDOF, said SpaceX Friday in an application for review of the decision. “The decision appears to have been rendered in service to a clear bias towards fiber, rather than a merits-based decision to actually connect unserved Americans.” In rejecting the application, the agency “misused data outside the record” on SpaceX’s speeds, “ignored robust record evidence” of SpaceX’s capability to expand, and didn’t accurately weigh SpaceX’s pricing against competitors, the appeal said. Commissioner Nathan Simington welcomed the appeal. "I am troubled that the decision to rescind SpaceX’s RDOF award applied standards that were not in our RDOF rules, were never approved by the Commission, and in fact made their first appearance in this drastic action," Simington said in a statement Monday. "I urge my fellow Commissioners to review SpaceX’s appeal and take prompt action to uphold our rules." Commissioner Brendan Carr has also been critical of the rejection of SpaceX's application (see 2208240049). The FCC's rejection of the SpaceX application, "lengthy review" of SpaceX’s application to launch more satellites, and NTIA’s move to exclude satellite from the BEAD program will combine to slow rural broadband access and "risk giving Chinese satellite internet providers, who have the full support of their government, a competitive advantage in serving the rest of the world," Simington said. “Any suggestion that Starlink is relatively expensive is unsupported by an apples-to-apples comparison because SpaceX, unlike other RDOF bidders, fully discloses its true cost to consumers,” the application for review said. “Changing the rules to undo a prior policy is grossly unfair” after SpaceX has already invested “thousands of employee hours and millions of dollars” into RDOF preparations, SpaceX said. The appeal also says the agency violated SpaceX’s Fifth Amendment due process clause, and improperly denied a request for waiver. The FCC should reverse the Wireline Bureau’s decision, grant SpaceX’s long-form application, and waive the deadline to submit evidence that SpaceX is an eligible telecommunications carrier in states where it hasn’t yet been so designated, the review application said. The FCC didn’t comment.