The Federal Communications Commission has awarded a lucrative $885.51 million contract to SpaceX, seeking to have the company provide Starlink broadband to rural homes and businesses in 35 states. The funding is distributed over 10 years, allowing SpaceX to work with $88.5 million per year. The satellite company was one of the biggest winners of the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction, the results of which were recently released.
Charter Communications also brought a large sum of money home from the FCC auction, totaling $1.22 billion over 10 years to bring service to over a million homes and businesses in 24 states. Although cable companies like Charter can use the money to expand their networks into new areas, Starlink and SpaceX may be able to provide service to all of rural America through launching new satellites, even without the funding. SpaceX could also lower prices in the funded locations set forth by the FCC, however, it is unclear what will happen.
Read More: SpaceX gets $886 million from FCC to subsidize Starlink in 35 states
