FCC Denies Starlink Low-Orbit Bid for Lower Latency - eviltoast
  • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    They got subsidies and were recently denied some.

    The DID NOT get the subsidy.

    Don’t pretend they never got any thank you.

    What SpaceX won in 2020 was a bid to receive the $866 million. They did not receive the money at that time. The FCC process after winning a bid is to do extra work showing your product meets program requirements:

    “SpaceX’s winning share was one of the largest among the auction’s 180 successful bidders [in 2020], and covered nearly 643,000 homes and businesses in 35 states.”

    “Auction winners were required to submit paperwork to the FCC to show how they planned to deploy services that meet RDOF conditions to receive the funds over 10 years.”"

    “The Federal Communications Commission said Aug. 10 [2022] that SpaceX had failed to show it could meet requirements for unlocking the funds, which aim to incentivize expanding broadband services to unserved areas across the United States.”

    source

    …and in 2022 SpaceX’s bid was denied for not meeting the product performance rules the FCC had placed on the program.

    To make you feel comfortable, I’ll adopt your level of snark for the conclusion.

    So, no, SpaceX did NOT receive this money, and don’t pretend they did, thank you.