Satellite

The company Ooma has been around for about 20 years, offering its voice-over-IP and unified communications as a service phone technologies, but now Ooma has come up with a product that lets residential Starlink broadband subscribers add voice to their Starlink service. Ooma’ StarDial is targeted to Starlink internet users in rural, remote or off-grid locations who may want to also tap their satellite broadband service for voice.

A quick catch-up for anyone joining late. On Aug.

SpaceX is continuing to pursue its case with the Federal Communications Commission that the proliferation of low-Earth orbit satellite service renders rural broadband subsidies obsolete, while depicting the opposing arguments of "subsidy-dependent incumbents" as "unfounded" and "implausible." The company's most recent remarks on the matter came in the form of reply comments to the FCC's proceeding on modernizing High-Cost, a program operated under the Universal Service Fund that helps subsidize telecom network deployment and maintenance in rural areas.

In July, SpaceX's 13th Starship test flight successfully deployed 20 "V3" Starlink satellites into sub-orbital trajectories for a series of speed tests before they "demised" some 20 minutes later to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.

Illinois isn’t doing so great closing its digital divide, and perhaps that’s why people in the state are picking up Starlink broadband at a faster pace than other states. According to new research from Ookla, based on Ookla’s Speedtest data, rural broadband access expanded across the U.S. in the first half of 2026, with nearly every state narrowing the gap between broadband performance in cities compared to broadband performance in rural areas. When compared to the second half of 2025, every state—with the exceptions of California, Delaware, and Illinois—made progress.

Since nobody I know will even be using a government spy satellite, you might wonder why I am writing about Starshield, the military-grade network operated by SpaceX. I’ve been wondering lately about Starlink’s claim that it is interested in providing backhaul to cell sites and bigger broadband connections to rural businesses. This has always puzzled me because, at the local network level, a satellite network is no different than any other network.

The North Carolina Department of Information Technology announced a $1 million notice of funding opportunity for the Broadband Satellite Resiliency Grant program designed to strengthen local resiliency and provide high-speed internet redundancy for public and community institutions serving North Carolinians.

Americans continue to demand more wireless data to power everything—from AI to wearables, digital streaming services, and more. In 2025 alone, Americans used a staggering 159.3 trillion megabytes of data—20 percent more data than was used the previous year and 39 percent more data than was used during the entire 4G decade. That growth reflects the increasingly central role wireless plays in everyday life, as data demand is expected to grow 4x by 2032. And the growth of AI will place an even greater strain on America’s wireless networks.

Rep Richard Hudson (R-NC-09), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, led a markup of six bills to strengthen communications networks and modernize satellite regulations. 

• H.R. 8255, the Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act, was forwarded to the Full Committee.

• H.R. 9129, the GUARD Act, was forwarded to the Full Committee.

SpaceX is still pushing federal regulators to slash a broadband subsidy that supports rural internet service providers the company is increasingly competing with for subscribers. Three SpaceX attorneys and satellite policy chief Joseph Bissonnette recently met with staff from the Federal Communications Commission to press their case.