Colorado's Broadband Funding Favors This Satellite Service Over Starlink

As SpaceX lobbies for more federal funding for Starlink, the company is facing a new setback in Colorado, which is awarding a major portion of its broadband projects to a rival satellite provider.  Colorado recently announced the winners of its $400 million US Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. Its proposal stands out for picking satellite services to deliver high-speed internet to about half of the underserved locations. Other states, such as Virginia and Louisiana, have decided to mostly lean on faster, but more expensive fiber installations.  Colorado selected satellite internet providers for over 47,000 of the 96,000 underserved and unserved locations that will get BEAD funding. The rest will receive mostly fiber. The news may sound like a win for SpaceX. But Colorado awarded the vast majority of the locations, over 42,000, to Amazon’s upcoming Project Kuiper satellite service, which is slated to receive $25.35 million in BEAD funding. In contrast, SpaceX was only selected for 5,400 locations and $9.16 million in federal subsidies.