Key takeaways A new X-Lab analysis indicates Starlink can only support 6.66 households per square mile before speeds drop below FCC broadband minimums (100/20 Mbps).
Currently, only 17% of Starlink users currently meet FCC broadband speeds, yet altered BEAD program rules could direct significant federal funds to Starlink as the lowest-cost option.
While Starlink greatly improves internet access and quality for rural Americans, experts worry about its long-term viability for widespread broadband expansion.
Starlink has hit a lot of milestones in the past month: It debuted satellite texting on the big three cellphone carriers, passed 2 million subscribers in the US and launched its 500th Falcon 9 rocket.
But a new analysis from Penn State University’s X-Lab is pouring some cold water on all that good news. Researchers found that Starlink’s satellites can handle just 6.66 households per square mile before service starts to dip below minimum broadband speeds set by the Federal Communication Commission. Last year, the FCC raised this standard to 100 megabits per second download, 20Mbps upload and below 100 milliseconds latency.
Starlink has been an absolute game changer in rural areas -- the first truly modern internet connection many Americans have ever had -- but it’s also never been fast enough to meet the FCC’s definition of broadband.
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With the company set to receive billions of dollars in federal subsidies to add millions of new subscribers, this new analysis suggests we’re at risk of stranding rural America with subpar internet for decades to come.
“What our math is showing is that there's a problem,” Sascha Meinrath, the X-Lab researcher who led the analysis, told CNET. “We're raising some substantial concerns that go to the heart of the largest public expenditure in broadband infrastructure in the nation's history.”
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