Viasat Tries to Stop Citizen Effort to Revive FCC Funding for Starlink

A resident in Virginia has urged the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider canceling $886 million in federal funding for SpaceX’s Starlink system. But rival satellite company Viasat has gone out of its way to oppose the citizen-led petition. 

On Jan. 1, the FCC received a petition from the Virginia resident Greg Weisiger asking the commission to reconsider denying the $886 million to SpaceX.

“Petitioner is at an absolute loss to understand the Commission’s logic with these denials,” wrote Weisiger, who lives in Midlothian, Virginia. “It is abundantly clear that Starlink has a robust, reliable, affordable service for rural and insular locations in all states and territories." 

The petition arrived a few weeks after the FCC denied SpaceX’s appeal to receive $886 million from the commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, which is designed to subsidize 100Mbps to gigabit broadband across the US. SpaceX wanted to use the funds to expand Starlink access in rural areas. But the FCC ruled that “Starlink is not reasonably capable of offering the required high-speed, low latency service throughout the areas where it won auction support.”

Weisiger disagrees. In his petition, he writes that the FCC's decision will deprive him of federal support to bring high-speed internet to his home. “Thousands of other Virginia locations were similarly denied support,” he added. 

(Credit: Getty Images)

Weisiger’s petition goes on to argue that SpaceX’s Starlink system can be a more cost-effective way to deliver high-speed internet when inflation has been preventing traditional ISPs from building out fiber networks. It’s doubtful his petition will sway the FCC since the commission spent over a year studying the matter before reaffirming its decision to deny SpaceX the funding. Nevertheless, Starlink rival Viasat decided to weigh in by submitting its own filing last week urging the FCC to reject Weisiger’s petition. 

“Simply stated, the Petition is procedurally defective and should be dismissed by the Commission, or by staff pursuant to delegated authority,” Viasat wrote in the four-page filing, which was first spotted by Law360. “Among other things, the Petition does not rely on any new fact or circumstance that could not have been introduced in the earlier stages of this proceeding.”

Viasat has previously opposed SpaceX’s other efforts to build out the Starlink network. It now looks like the company is trying to squash any chance that the FCC could revisit the $886 million funding issue for Starlink.

“The Petition also fails to identify any error in the (FCC) Order denying Starlink’s application for review,” Viasat added. “Tellingly, the Petition does not cite any finding or conclusion in the Order that Petitioner believes to be erroneous—let alone demonstrate any error in the reasoning underlying any such finding or conclusion.”

The FCC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, making it unclear if the commission plans to respond to Weisiger’s petition. The FCC voted 3-2 to deny SpaceX the funding with the two Republican commissioners opposing the decision.

In the meantime, Viasat told PCMag it weighed in on Weisiger's petition because "We have been active in these proceedings before the FCC for almost three years now, and have been consistent in our position throughout."