Elon Musk’s Starlink internet satellite system has turned the RV lifestyle on its head. For RVers who need internet access wherever they go, Starlink is basically the only game in town. But a major federal government official says a shakeup is needed. The Federal Communications Commission’s chief says something needs to disrupt Starlink’s monopoly. That something is new competition.
Sound of a gauntlet being thrown down
On Wednesday, September 11, Jessica Rosenworcel, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair, made a statement that sounded like a gauntlet being thrown down.
“The one thing that’s clear to me as the head of the Federal Communications Commission is that every communications market that has competition is stronger.” Rosenworcel made the statement as she addressed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Aerospace Summit in Washington, D.C.
The FCC chair’s call-out came just days after Elon Musk crowed that “Starlink now constitutes roughly 2/3 of all active Earth satellites,” in a post on X. The statement came after the internet satellite giant had sent 7,000 satellites into orbit. Just a few days prior to the 7,000 mark, the Starlink chief prognosticated that his firm will “probably deliver over 90% of all space-based Internet traffic next year.”
Competition would disrupt Starlink’s monopoly
Starlink already has competition—of a sort. Viasat has good coverage for North American customers, but has drawbacks that make it far less useful for RVers. Designed for residential service, Viasat ground equipment must be carefully aligned with one of its few, more distant satellites. Take it on the road, and you would need to realign it—not something the typical RVer would find practical.
Telecom giant Verizon is also gearing up to join the internet satellite race. The two rivals are already duking it out, with Verizon complaining that Starlink’s promised “satellite to cell phone” connectivity could mess up other cellular communications on the planet.
Jessica Rosenworcel, of the FCC, was asked to address the importance of competition in more detail. Her response could hearten RVers who yearn for less expensive alternatives to Starlink. “We see lower prices and more innovation,” Rosenworcel responded, “and honestly, space should be no exception.”
Need for more “space actors”
Starlink’s low-orbiting technology has enabled it to deliver high-speed internet to millions of users in rural and remote areas. Often this has been where reliable broadband access has been lacking. The FCC head states that more is required. The country, she says, needs to “embrace the idea of having many more actors in low-Earth orbit,” pointing to the benefits of competition.
“We do have one player that’s got almost two-thirds of the satellites in space right now and has a very high portion of internet traffic,” Rosenworcel told conference attendees. “And the way I see it is our economy doesn’t benefit from monopolies, so we’ve got to invite many more space actors in and many more companies that can develop constellations and innovations in space.”
Just how the federal government can encourage “more space actors” wasn’t defined. But the future always holds surprises.
For more Starlink information, click here.
Photo credit: “Competition” frame, thebluediamondgallery.com. Balance of image, public domain
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I think we lost a major space actor this week with the death of James Earl Jones.
What a class act. He was “larger than life.” Have a great day, Tony. 😀 –Diane
Yes. He was indeed!!
👍 Have a good night, Bill.🤗 –Diane
I shudder everytime I hear him in his famous voice over “This is CNN.” 🙂
I don’t really believe this is true: “For RVers who need internet access wherever they go, Starlink is basically the only game in town.”. I’m a computer systems analyst and have been traveling in an RV for over 16 years. I started with AT&T, then after several years I switched to Verizon because their coverage was so much better. I have only rarely been out of touch with their network. I am often in remote places and still have service. I don’t believe Starlink is the only game in town.
Don’t you just love it when the government nannies want to swoop down from on high to “save” us from those big bad folks that just had a better idea? They always say they’re trying to save us money! When has the federal government ever gotten involved in ANYTHING that saved us money? I’m old enough to remember when they broke up Ma Bell. What a total fiasco!
Remember the government thinks “whatever you own they own”, even though they didn’t spend a penny putting those 7000 satellites into space, to provide worldwide coverage!
spacex has received over 15B from the us government
He can pay it back with his sofa change windfall, all they need to do is ask.
If they do however, the 2 NASA funded astronauts he is rescuing in February from a Boeing space junker may not get home…. it seems to me that would have a 15 billion $ value. Even.
Thank you, Russ and Tina! 🙂 Yes, competition is expected to yield the desired changes described. But, as you note, whence comes the competitors, the additional companies? Even though she is the chair of the FCC, she can’t speak them into existence, nor snap her fingers and they spontaneously appear. Seems a challenge, but an empty one at the moment. Thanks again, have a great day, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
Well said Neal. Point very well made.
Thank you, Cancelproof! 🙂 Have a great weekend, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
A private entrepreneur out performs the government (NASA) and that’s a problem??
Next thing you know the FCC will try and ban speech on X too…. oh yeah, they already are.
FCC hackles are ruffled? Is that because of Elon Musk’s political activity? I was always under the impression, apparently erroneously, that Government should be encouraging new technology and not having it conform to its own political whims.
The true business of space and satellites and even human space travel is so difficult, so risky, and so capital intensive, that in its early stages, it benefits and advances faster by having fewer players where capital and intellectual property can be concentrated. In due time, the combination of advancements in technology, reliable systems, and increasing demand will more easily provide incentives for a greater number of players. NASA and the government is already complaining about the numbers of satellites in orbit and wanting to regulate the numbers, so how do they intend to have increased competition without increasing the number of low earth orbit satellites by even thousands more.
Great argument, John! Thank you! Have a great day, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
I agree with Neal, John. Great observation.
She may want to be careful as NASA has needed Elon’s help lately. Maybe the price may need to be “adjusted”??
Good to do this early before it gets worse. Need to have competition
So join the race Dave. Seems lucrative with very little Competition. If you start today….
Competition does not come from Gov’t, it comes from vision. Bezos in in the game already just not making as much progress.
Is no one is allowed to be first anymore? Have vision?
Maybe a mandatory buyback of privately owned satelites? Let me see, 7,000 satelites at $100 million each buy back is only $700 billion the govt needs to come up with and which Gov’t, his satelites span the globe. Musk will be a trillionaire by Christmas.
I hoist a beer in your honor.
The Gov. gave Boeing twice what it gave Space X in contracts, and you can see what happened. One very successful and one not so much. So, what do we do, start punishing the successful. We should put pressure on the unsuccessful to get their stuff together. It seems that Amazon, although a little behind might end up being a respectable competitor.
Another intrusion of the current administration to silence Elon Musk. I’m willing to bet if Elon supported the administration nothing would be done to him. Free pass on everything only if you are supporter.
The FCC needs to break up the cable tv and major league sports monopoly. They have the politicians in their back pocket and that costs us consumers a lot of money. Maybe the FCC chair doesn’t like Musk because he is smarter than her.
Not so sure about competition helping. In my area the cell service and cable providers all seem to match each other’s higher price. None are the low cost guy anymore. All the while my service hasn’t got any better. Just more costly.
Not mentioned was possibly Starlink’s biggest future competitor. Amazon’s Project Kuiper has two satellites in orbit and doing testing and plans to start launching 1000’s of satellites starting next year. They also indicated that they would use Prime memberships to undercut Starlink’s pricing. Will be interesting to see how this progresses.
Sounds like competition to me. No monopoly.
A great example of this administration’s hate for Elon Musk
Maybe he should cancel the 2 return tickets for February and get on with putting his 2 canceled scientists back in his rocket in February.
I feel like he is playing well with others.
He offered to do the “Affordable Internet” for 1/3 the cost of the $42.45 billion dollars. They told him to go away.
Strange, where was the FCC’s “concern” all these years HughesNet operated unabated?
Monopoly? Um, StarLink is HughesNet’s competitor. Formidable competitor at that.
Why are there calls for competition now that StarLink is more affordable, reliable and portable than HughesNet?
With the Starliner debacle, I wouldn’t be surprised if Boeing’s lobbyists condemn SpaceX as a launch vehicle monopoly to “justify” the billions they’ve wasted in failure.
Incredibly sad that instead of praise for technology innovations that Elon Musk has spent hundreds of millions on to develop and field we have the political appointee basically condemn what Musk has accomplished. Why didn’t she diss HughesNet or VIASAT? Politics at its finest
Just what we need is for the government to step in and screw things up just like they did years ago with the phone companies. They can’t even run the government with economic responsibility so how can they tell companies how to run their business.
Indeed. People who couldn’t manage as much as a lemonade stand telling everyone else, especially those already doing it, how things should be done and how much it should cost.
FCC is right on this issue. No monopoly for Elon!
What monopoly? Hughesnet had 40 years before Elon. He is a monopoly disruptor if anything.