Starlink operator SpaceX isn't getting the broadband money it demanded from state governments despite the Trump administration rewriting the rules of a $42 billion grant program. Instead of directing the lion's share of money to Elon Musk's space and satellite company, early results indicate that states still plan to deploy fiber broadband networks to most of their unserved households.
When the Trump administration announced its overhaul of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program in March, estimates published by The Wall Street Journal suggested that SpaceX could receive $10 billion to $20 billion under the new rules. Musk clearly expected a big windfall; as we've written, SpaceX alleges that Virginia and Louisiana violated the Trump administration's rules by allocating most of the money to fiber providers instead of Starlink's satellite service.
Assuming Virginia and Louisiana don't back down, SpaceX has indicated it will ask the Trump administration to reject their grant proposals. SpaceX might end up filing similar objections in many other states after more of them reveal their plans. A third state, West Virginia, revealed its plan on Tuesday, and SpaceX isn't likely to be happy with it.
A Broadband.io analysis found that West Virginia's plan would direct 99 percent of a $624.7 million outlay to fiber projects, with Starlink receiving $6.4 million. Under the new plan, fiber would be deployed to about 94 percent of 73,701 grant-eligible locations, with Starlink receiving a subsidy to serve the other 6 percent of homes and businesses. An earlier version of West Virginia's plan would have spent $946 million in BEAD funding to serve about 110,000 locations with fiber, but the state scaled it back to meet the Trump administration mandate to lower costs.
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told states to "take a tech-neutral approach" when evaluating Internet providers and to "provide Internet access for the lowest cost." The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is part of the Commerce Department, revised the program rules in a way that made it harder for states to justify spending on fiber networks, despite fiber's clear advantage over satellite in speed and capacity.