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Starlink tries to block Virginia’s plan to bring fiber Internet to residents (arstechnica.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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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.

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[–] [S] 253 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This is absolute insanity. To think that fiber and satellites are even on the same playing field is absolute brain damage.

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  • [–] 55 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    The problem I see is that we've already paid for fiber

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  • [–] 39 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Yep, $400bn wasted on fiber "deployments" that never went anywhere while telcos pocketed the cash, and that was as of like a decade ago.

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  • [–] 30 points 1 year ago

    And across the pond the french government spent 20bn to have the government build out fiber and now basically everyone in france has super cheap fiber internet.

    Paying companies to do stuff that's against their financial incentives doesn't work.

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