On Monday, a U.S. House committee announced that it is looking into the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to withhold $885.5 million in rural broadband subsidies from SpaceX satellite internet business Starlink.
TakeAway Points:
- A U.S. House committee said it is investigating the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to refuse SpaceX satellite internet business Starlink $885.5 million in rural broadband subsidies.
- This was based on Starlink’s failure to meet basic program requirements and that Starlink could not demonstrate it could deliver promised service after SpaceX had challenged the 2022 decision.
- The committee seeks to ensure the FCC “followed established processes and is not improperly using the regulatory process for political purposes.”
- The European Investment Bank proposed on Monday to help overcome the funding gap and keep the most creative start-up companies wanting to grow in Europe.
US House Panel Investigates FCC
The FCC said in December, reaffirming its position that the decision impacting Elon Musk’s space company was based on Starlink’s failure to meet basic program requirements and that Starlink could not demonstrate it could deliver promised service after SpaceX had challenged the 2022 decision.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, a Republican, asked the FCC in a letter Monday to turn over documents by Oct. 21 on the decision. The committee seeks to ensure the FCC “followed established processes and is not improperly using the regulatory process for political purposes.”
The FCC said it had received the letter and would respond.
In December 2020, the FCC tentatively awarded $9.2 billion to over 300 bidders to deploy high-speed broadband with SpaceX’s Starlink winning $885.5 million in a 2020 auction for rural service.
Previous similar issue
The FCC opted to deny Starlink the funding in August 2022, citing speed-test data after Starlink had agreed to provide high-speed Internet service to 642,000 rural homes and businesses in 35 states.
Musk has harshly criticized the FCC decision to deny the award he called “illegal” and asserted last week that if Starlink had received the funding, “it would probably have saved lives in North Carolina” amid Hurricane Helene.
FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel told Congress in February that Starlink’s publicly available performance data has confirmed its prior finding that “Starlink had difficulty meeting the basic uplink and downlink speed standards for the program” and added Starlink’s proposal would have required subscribers to purchase a $600 dish to start service.
The two Republican commissioners on the five-member FCC dissented from the decision, saying the FCC was improperly holding SpaceX to 2025 targets early.
Last month, Rosenworcel said she wants to see more competition to Starlink, noting it controls nearly two-thirds of all active satellites and has launched about 7,000 satellites since 2018.
“Our economy doesn’t benefit from monopolies. So we’ve got to invite many more space actors in, many more companies that can develop constellations and innovations in space,” she said.
European Investment Bank to boost funding for EU tech start-ups
The European Investment Bank proposed on Monday to help close the funding gap and retain the most innovative start-up companies looking to grow in Europe through support for the EU venture capital and private equity markets.
The initiative, presented by the bank to finance ministers at a meeting in Luxembourg, is part of the EU’s push to develop its capital markets and be attractive for innovative start-ups that now often relocate to the United States, where finding financing is easier.
The EIB said in a statement that it would finance the scale up of European unicorns — companies with unique ideas and growth potential — by expanding the European Tech Champions Initiative, a fund of funds launched last year that provides late-stage capital to European innovators.
The EIB, which is owned by the EU’s 27 governments, also offered to boost equity and venture debt investments and create a new dedicated fund for financing acquisitions and listing of tech start-ups by European firms.
“We’re talking about ensuring that European companies, technologies that are born in Europe, stay in Europe, and that we invest in Europe’s champions, in Europe’s unicorns, that we reinforce Europe’s competitiveness through a stronger capital market,” EIB president Nadia Calvino said.
The funding strategy is also meant to help Europe stay competitive against China and the United States in new, climate-friendly technologies the EU needs to meet its ambitious climate goals of zero net CO2 emissions by 2050.
“There’s unanimous agreement at the technical level on the need to deepen Europe’s capital markets and to reinforce the integration of our capital markets.This will reinforce Europe’s competitiveness and fund European successful companies. There is also political momentum right now.” Calvino said.
