Starlink operator SpaceX is fighting Virginia’s plan to deploy fiber Internet service to residents, claiming that federal grant money should be given to Starlink instead. SpaceX is already in line to win over $3 million in grant money in the state but is seeking $60 million.
Starlink is poised to benefit from the Trump administration rewriting rules for the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant program. While the Biden administration decided that states should prioritize fiber in order to build more future-proof networks, the Trump administration ordered states to revise their plans with a “tech-neutral approach” and lower the average cost of serving each location.
I’m not sure why people are commenting that I think fiber isn’t real?
Of course it’s real.
But maybe you’re young- Comcast, AT&T, etc, have been given multiple tranches of money since the early 1990s to deliver a nationwide fiber network in the US, they’ve never delivered more than 0.1% of it.
Giving them more money, won’t make it happen.
Giving municipalities (cities, counties) the funds to build out their own fiber networks is good.
Giving more money to Comcast and AT&T to do nothing, is not good, it’s corporate welfare.