Trump’s changes to broadband rules would favor Starlink. West Virginians would pay the price.

Thousands of West Virginians are still waiting for high-speed internet. But a new federal push that could steer more broadband funding to Elon Musk’s Starlink will make them wait even longer. The state was poised to receive $1.2 billion to connect every West Virginian to the internet, mainly through traditional fiber cables. Now, the money has been delayed as federal officials are making changes that would benefit satellite internet providers like Starlink, owned by Trump megadonor Musk. The program’s former director warned colleagues that the Trump administration was “stranding rural America with worse internet” to make “the world’s richest man richer.”  West Virginia broadband leaders and county officials warn that favoring satellite providers will leave residents with slower, less reliable service. They argue traditional fiber-based broadband is cheaper, longer-lasting and better suited to the state’s mountainous landscape. “Starlink is not a feasible nor sustainable substitute for high-capacity, fiber-based broadband in our county,” Pendleton County officials wrote in a letter to Gov. Patrick Morrisey in late April.