SpaceX’s Starlink could not qualify for very low-latency funding, FCC says

SpaceX argued that the FCC’s uncertainties are unfounded and that Starlink will “easily obvious the commission’s 100-millisecond threshold for low-latency expert services, even like its “processing time” during unrealistic worst-scenario scenarios. In actuality, with altitudes at 335 to 354 miles (compared to 21,750 miles for geostationary systems), SpaceX is taking pictures for a latency below 20 milliseconds — in line with cable web.

That may verify to be accurate, but SpaceX is in a catch-22 problem. The FCC wrote that it has “serious doubts that any small-Earth orbit networks will be capable to fulfill the brief-type software needs for bidding in the low-latency tier.” In other words, SpaceX might perfectly be proper about its latency promises, but devoid of a doing the job community, it will not be in a position to prove it in time to qualify for the most funding.

That wouldn’t necessarily mean SpaceX would be totally shut out. It can nonetheless qualify for funding exterior the low-latency tier, but that could minimize the sums it would be eligible to obtain.

SpaceX presently has 480 satellites but no buyer products and services as of however, and it has accurately a thirty day period to submit an software for the auction. The business designs to roll out companies in the Northern US and Canada this calendar year, but it would very likely be far too late.