The FCC revoked that award before the money was handed over because starlink wasn't meeting the speeds they needed to meet for the deadline 3 years in the future and they didn't think they would make it. The speeds that money was supposed to help them achieve launching the satellites required to meet it.

No one else had that made up requirement put on them in advance.

The goal that was 3 years in the future, which would have been around now or early 2026, required them to meet their speed (100d + 20u) and latency (<100ms) goals for 40% of the 650k rural users.

They had 1.5 million US customers at the start of 2025, not sure how many are part of this rural 650k but id imagine the majority are, and only 260k of the rural ones have to meet the requirements.

Ookla did a post about starlink in Maine where it shows many of the users are meeting those requirements

Above Maine, Starlink Twinkles | Ookla®

Ookla - Providing network intelligence to enable modern connectivity (www.ookla.com)

Median DL: 116.77 (over the required 100)

Media UL: 18.17 (just shy of the required 20)

90th Percentile DL: 250.96

90th Percentile UL 27.17

If Maine is a representative example, then they are probably meeting their 40% target of 260k rural users despite not getting the money which would have accelerated things and made launches more focused on meeting the goals.

Edit: extra details.

Edit: I was just looking up more info on the program, and the deadline to report would have been in January 2025, so it would have been with the 1.5 million users they had at the start of the year, not around now, or 2026 as I'd said. That Ookla report was December 2024. We should get a report from the FCC (this summer?) that outlines how many others met their respective 40% target.

Nationalization is so communist thing to do.

You are right in how wasteful it is, especially since it turned out a lot of those satellites don't even make it to 4 years.

However there is zero risk of space trash with Starlink. They orbit so low, it's basically within the atmosphere still. They need to constantly boost themselves, otherwise they fall down and burn up. So these satellites are coming down within years all on their own, even without any controlled disposal.

It's insanely wasteful, but it keeps SpaceX in business launching every week, which is kind of the point. But at least there isn't a Kessler syndrome waiting to happen.

I'm checking this out!

Also every African despotic regime that has has ever existed.

Doesnt make it a bad idea tho

Never gonna happen under republicans... or dems as they are sell outs too.

don't threaten me with a good time!

Reverse accelerating space ship. I like the idea!

why stop there?

do it to meta, twitter, amazon, etc

We've seen China give companies to the state, but have there been any large examples of giving companies to the workers?

I can't think of any examples. Taking over the company requires capital, which is the one thing that capitalists constantly extract from workers so they don't have any.

The workers of xs4all tried when their new corporate owners, KPN, decided to dissolve them. But a combination of lack of funding and unfriendly courts prevented that. They did end up starting a new company though...

have a government run space agency

a private company shows up

does everything better at a fraction of the cost and actually innovates

commies on lemmy: We Should Immediately Nationalize SpaceX and Starlink

You could always just fund the space agency you already have, instead of funneling money to a foreign billionaire.

Even though it’s not a space trash problem, it is a regular upper atmosphere polluter of aluminum oxide ash. We don’t yet know the long term consequences.

Stopping exploitation by Shell, BP & Friends isn't exactly what made those regimes despotic

A private company shows up that gets federal funding while the space agency gets funding consistently cut while having to support multiple, multi-year, billion dollar projects.

A private company whose survival is 100% reliant on government money.

Capitalists on Lemmy: private company is better just because it's private

I think if you consider the cost to manufacture then bury a fibre optic cable for everyone who lives 10km from a town centre, I think it's still a net positive. It's not great for sure, but amortised over a huge population it's probably the best option we have at this time.

No this the one time I’m with the commies. Nationalize that shit. Like you said it’s all taxpayer money anyway. A little bit of Wall Street speculation, but who gives a fuck about those people

We just need to allow them to keep the money. They like money. Give them 10% as a finders fee and the Yes vote will be unanimous