The government should not subsidize Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service.
The huge infrastructure package that recently passed the Senate allocates billions of dollars for expanding affordable internet access nationwide, raising the question of who and where should get that money. No recipients have been named yet, but low earth orbit satellite networks like Starlink might be one option federal agencies, state, and local governments consider. These networks have recently gotten attention for their potential to connect people in rural areas too hard to reach or capital-intensive for terrestrial service. (They’re also getting attention from angry astronomers who don’t want their views of the night sky ruined.) The technology is promising, enough that one of these networks, SpaceX’s Starlink, won $885.5 million in federal funding in 2020 from the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.
Now, Starlink is petitioning to win even more federal money, asking to be recognized as an affordable service provider that could be reimbursed for
