Satellite Expects Struggle Getting Role in State Broadband Plans

State funding mechanisms will say they're tech neutral, but they often focus on subsidizing providers' infrastructure, particularly wireline infrastructure, Hill said. Satellite infrastructure "is in the sky," he said. States have difficulty considering a satellite carve-out, and funding of satellite broadband would likely have to be aimed at consumers, subsidizing their monthly bills rather than subsidizing the cost of an operator laying fiber past a number of homes, he said.

Satellite also faces hurdles in being part of state broadband programs because of its throughput limits, Hill said. "It's not fiber," he said: States "want 100 Mbps up and down. It can say it's tech neutral, but if it's written so only wired providers qualify, it's not tech neutral."

Arkansas wants to take a technology-agnostic approach as much as possible, but federal guidance on American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) rules is geared toward fiber because of its scalability, said Steven Porch, state Commerce Department chief legal counsel. However, connecting 10,000 particularly remote homes in Arkansas via fiber would have a $200 million price tag, and satellite "may be an option," he said. "It's something we are not ruling out." Arkansas received Rural Digital Opportunity Fund grant money for SpaceX service in parts of the state, and now is waiting to see how that works out, he said. The upfront costs for subscribing to Starlink "may pose a burden" for those 10,000 homes, since affordability is a big hurdle to broadband adoption, he said.

A proposed satellite broadband grant program in Maine, amended to tech-neutral language (see 2203030012), was signed into law this week with all satellite references removed.

Recommendations by Alaska's broadband state task force final report issued last fall set a goal of everyone in the state having access to 100/20 Mbps speeds within five years. It also urged the state's broadband spending be balanced between "establishing a robust fiber backbone ... and the utilization of appropriate technologies for improved last-mile service delivery." Its evaluation of low earth orbit broadband said it "can serve locations that do not have access to terrestrial middle-mile infrastructure," but LEO has "limited throughput capacity compared to fiber."

Colorado singled out satellite as a broadband option, Hill said. SB21-060, signed into law in June, creates a voucher program of up to $600 a year for income-eligible households and households in critically unserved areas to help cover costs of broadband access. The law mentions satellite providers in its language specifically on eligibility.

State Sen. Kerry Donovan, one of the sponsors, said broadband deployment has been a particular focus of hers throughout her Senate career, and the bill was one of the final pieces. The legislation acknowledges there are some places that won't ever have landlines due to geography and the remote territory, she said. With the state having already put grant money toward middle mile, satellite support for people who couldn't get that wired connection was an appropriate way of looking at satellite use, the Democrat said. For mountainous rural counties like those in her district, satellite "was not a far-reaching idea, it's part of the daily conversation," she said. The next big hurdle is for state agencies to make sure residents who qualify know about the subsidization program, she said.

“Given Colorado’s unique topography, we want to ensure broadband investments from (ARPA's) Capital Projects Fund reach our areas identified as critical need communities however we can, while meeting the rules and regulations outlined for eligible projects," said Brandy Reitter, Colorado Broadband Office executive director, in a statement. "The guidance is to prioritize investments in fiber, and we’re working to define how we can align federal priorities with the needs of Coloradans.”