Gwynne Shotwell, President of SpaceX, recently spoke at Mountain Connect about the role of Starlink’s low Earth orbit–based broadband internet service in the NTIA’s $42.3B “Internet for all” BEAD program. Her comments included: • While Starlink can serve some users in a dense market like Manhattan, it is ideally suited for rural areas where it can serve all users in the area. • Today, each satellite in Starlink’s constellation covers a 22km diameter circle and can serve about 200 homes. • The company’s network has enough capacity to serve all rural and semi-rural areas in the US. • Starlink’s service can meet the NTIA’s latency and speed requirements of 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload. • A low Earth orbit satellite solution is the “only way” to make the math work on getting broadband to high-cost areas in the U.S. • The Department of Commerce (NTIA’s parent agency) is “very interested” in having SpaceX participate in BEAD, and the company is in discussions with the agency. Starlink’s implementation costs are low, but subscription costs are high: home kits currently retail for $500, but an unlimited data plan costs $120. Meanwhile, there will be hundreds of high-cost locations with build costs in excess of $5,000. Given Starlink’s pricing model, a lot of questions on BEAD-funded solutions remain:
• Will states be able to use their BEAD allocations to offset the data plan costs as well as the kit costs?
• Will current Starlink customers in unserved locations be eligible for a subsidy?
• Will the NTIA allow Starlink to standardize its compliance reporting across states?
• Is there a negotiated solution by which Starlink lowers its price to meet affordability goals in exchange for program participation and compliance standardization across states?
Mission Broadband is helping clients think through these questions and weigh the pros and cons of alternative technologies like Starlink. What do you think the right role for Starlink is in BEAD? How should the NTIA and states be approaching this technology?