Commerce to Overhaul ‘Internet for All’ Plan, Expanding Starlink Funding Prospects
Agency plans changes that will make Elon Musk’s satellite-internet service eligible for more rural broadband funding
The Commerce Department is examining changes to a $42.5 billion Biden-era program aimed at expanding internet access around the country with new rules that will make it easier for Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite-internet service, to tap in to rural broadband funding, said people familiar with the plans.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has told staff he plans to make the grant program “technology-neutral,” the people said. That change will free up states to award more funds to satellite-internet providers like Starlink, rather than mainly to companies that lay fiber-optic cables, to connect the millions of U.S. households that lack high-speed internet service.
Republicans have said the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program, created by the 2021 infrastructure bill, has moved too slowly and is bogged down by unnecessary rules. Those rules effectively said states could only fund alternative technologies such as satellite in areas where it wasn’t feasible or cost-effective to lay fiber cables.
The potential new rules could drastically increase the share of funding available to Starlink. Under the BEAD program’s original rules, Starlink was expected to get up to $4.1 billion, said people familiar with the matter. With Lutnick’s overhaul, Starlink, a unit of Musk’s SpaceX, could receive $10 billion to $20 billion, they said.
Representatives for the Commerce Department and Starlink didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
The overhaul could be announced as soon as this week, possibly without some details in place, the people said. Following any changes, states may have to rewrite their plans for how to spend their funding from the program, which could delay the implementation.
Lutnick told staff he plans to do away with other BEAD program rules, including some related to climate impact and sustainability, as well as provisions that encouraged states to fund companies with a racially diverse workforce or union participation, the people said.
The program requires internet-service providers that receive funding to offer affordable plans for lower-income customers. Lutnick has told staff he is considering reducing those obligations, the people said.
Arielle Roth, Trump’s nominee to lead the Commerce Department bureau that oversees the internet-access program, has been critical of the rules governing it—and of the bureau itself.
Roth, speaking as a policy director on the Senate Commerce Committee under Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), said last year that Congress had created the program “in a technology-neutral manner,” but that the bureau, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, “imposed extreme tech bias in favor of fiber.” She also said the bureau pushed a “woke social agenda” on the program.
Under Biden, the program favored fiber because the bureau thought it provided more reliable service and more durable infrastructure than other technologies.
Starlink has more than 7,000 satellites orbiting Earth. The company says it serves more than five million homes, businesses and vehicles around the world, including many in rural America. Despite its high price tag—a dish costs several hundred dollars, plus a $120 monthly service fee—Starlink has gained a loyal following because it works in areas where fiber service isn’t available.
Many broadband providers worried the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency would eliminate or reduce the program’s funding. Given the overhaul, fiber broadband providers may not benefit from it as much as they expected because non-fiber technologies are poised to receive more funding than before.
Starlink lobbied the Commerce Department to change the program’s rules last year but halted its lobbying after Trump took office, said people familiar with the matter.