The plan for nationwide fiber internet might be upended for Starlink
1 min read
Summary
The Biden administration’s $42.5bn plan to provide high-speed internet access to all US citizens, especially those in rural areas, is under threat from changes imposed by the recently appointed Trump administration US Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick.
Lutnick wants to make changes to the plan, including a “tech-neutral” approach which could hand out $20bn of the fund to Elon Musk’s satellite company, Starlink.
Fibre connections are generally much faster, more reliable and cheaper than those provided by Starlink and other satellite-based services.
Starlink doesn’t have the capacity to scale up to meet the needs of the programme, and satellite-based services are more costly to maintain than fibre connections.
The Biden administration had originally planned to start connecting citizens to the internet by the end of 2024.