States Look to Satellite Internet for Faster, Cheaper Rural Access
With a large number of Americans still lacking reliable internet access, some states are looking to space to fix the problem (The Wall Street Journal, subscription).
What’s going on: “From Maine to Nevada, states are starting to help some of the 24 million Americans who lack reliable broadband pay for satellite internet, rather than focusing such aid primarily on fiber connectivity as they have in the past.”
- Providers including Amazon have launched new endeavors to increase internet access worldwide, and they could benefit from these states’ push. Amazon’s Project Kuiper, for example, launched its first operational satellites in April and expects to deploy thousands more in the coming years.
The details: “Louisiana set aside $28.7 million of the funds it expects from a federal broadband subsidy program for satellite service, and Nevada has agreed to spend $12.7 million of its funds from the same program on Project Kuiper to serve about 4,400 rural addresses.”
- The Biden administration’s $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program favored fiber over satellite, but the Commerce Department announced earlier this year it will overhaul the program to make it “tech-neutral.”
Why didn’t they do it sooner? Some officials have been reluctant to subsidize satellite internet because it provides slower service than fiber. It’s also susceptible to more frequent outages and requires satellite updates every few years.
- But it’s also quicker and less expensive to implement. (For some remote locations, the price tag for laying fiber can go well into six figures for a single home.)
A stopgap solution: To meet needs while BEAD is rejiggered, Maine and South Carolina have started state-funded programs that subsidize satellite broadband for some rural addresses—but only from a specific provider.
- Texas has a similar program and has accepted applications from providers, and following the Commerce Department’s BEAD announcement, West Virginia is considering spending some of its funds on satellite internet, too.