The subsequent section of Elon Musk’s plan to entangle his corporations with the workings of the federal authorities is nicely underway. That entails not solely President Donald Trump’s picture op with a Tesla in entrance of the White Home but in addition, surprisingly, the way forward for your web connection.
Extra particularly, Musk is making strikes that might change the way in which thousands and thousands of People entry the web by boosting Starlink, the satellite-based web firm operated by his firm, SpaceX, of which he’s the founder, CEO, and main shareholder.
Starlink and different space-based web initiatives work by beaming web service from satellites in orbit all the way down to Earth’s floor, versus wired broadband web, which usually depends on fiber-optic cable. Satellite tv for pc web’s main benefit is that, with just a few exceptions, it will possibly work virtually anyplace on the planet. Its drawbacks — together with gradual speeds, excessive latency, and spotty reliability — imply that fiber web is best for the overwhelming majority of individuals proper now.
Within the final week or so, the Commerce Division mentioned it plans to rewrite the principles of a $42 billion high-speed web initiative in a method that will profit Starlink. The Federal Communications Fee (FCC) in the meantime granted Starlink a waiver that may make its new service, which lets telephones hook up with satellites, extra highly effective, as satellite tv for pc opponents urged the company to rein in Musk’s firm, which they are saying is “anticompetitive.”
Musk associates have additionally reportedly instructed authorities companies to start out utilizing Starlink, and the Common Companies Administration is already doing it, apparently with out oversight. SpaceX confirmed that it’s leasing Starlink kits to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), amid stories that the company would possibly cancel a $2.4 billion contract with Verizon and award it to Starlink as an alternative. The corporate denied that it was making an attempt to take over the contract.
There are billions of {dollars} at stake right here, however this isn’t simply in regards to the cash. (Musk doesn’t really want it.) Some individuals are nervous that these developments characterize the early steps of an influence shift within the telecom trade, one that might outcome on the earth’s richest man deciding how the nation’s communications community works.
“We have now by no means earlier than had a scenario the place the proprietor of a significant communications firm is inside the federal government. This can be a very uncommon scenario.”
Along with hacking away on the federal authorities in his unelected place as the pinnacle of DOGE, Musk may additionally develop into the only particular person who’s “the dominant drive in telecom coverage,” in line with Blair Levin, a senior fellow on the Brookings Institute and former chief of workers on the FCC. What’s extra, the US telecommunications system is vital to nationwide safety, and Musk’s enterprise pursuits won’t at all times line up with Washington’s.
“We have now by no means earlier than had a scenario the place the proprietor of a significant communications firm is inside the federal government. This can be a very uncommon scenario,” Levin mentioned. “It’s very troubling.”
A few of this should sound hyperbolic. It’s additionally hypothetical — for now. I’ve been writing about Starlink since earlier than it launched its first batch of satellites in 2019, and from bringing distant components of the world on-line to connecting Ukrainian troopers at battle, there’s little doubt that the know-how is unimaginable.
But when latest occasions are any indication, the Trump administration plans to benefit Starlink in ways in which profit Musk greater than the individuals who want higher web service. It additionally opens the door for Musk to develop into a a lot larger energy dealer within the telecom world — and have extra of a say in the way you get on-line.
Elon’s area web is just not higher than Earth web but
It’s tempting to suppose Starlink is the way forward for web service. It’s very simple to arrange, which is an enormous deal to anybody who lacks broadband entry — troopers in Ukraine, for instance, or farmers in rural America. However Starlink is just not the identical because the fiber-based broadband that’s develop into the gold normal for web entry.
For a lot of causes, area web isn’t as quick, as dependable, or as low cost as terrestrial broadband. That’s why Congress prioritized corporations that lay fiber-optic cable with the Broadband Fairness, Entry, and Deployment (BEAD) program, which gives federal funding to deliver high-speed web entry to as many as 8 million People who’ve by no means had it, as a part of the 2021 infrastructure invoice. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick now needs to make this system “know-how impartial,” a change that will improve Starlink’s probabilities of getting grants. Whereas Musk’s firm was on monitor to obtain a little bit over $4 billion below the outdated guidelines, Starlink may now get between $10 billion and $20 billion, in line with the Wall Avenue Journal.
If the Commerce Division goes via with the proposed adjustments to the BEAD program, its implementation can be delayed — multiple skilled advised me it will be by a minimum of a 12 months. Which is ironic on condition that Republicans made delays in BEAD’s rollout a speaking level in the course of the 2024 election. This course of includes digging miles of trenches for tubes of cables that join far-flung components of the nation. It takes time and prices cash, however this infrastructure would final for many years.
“It’s really a historic alternative to get fiber to a number of these locations,” Drew Garner, director of coverage engagement on the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, advised me. “We’ll in all probability by no means have one other alternative like this.”
Some argue that Starlink and different satellite-based web corporations may get folks on-line extra shortly and with out the expense of laying fiber. Starlink already has greater than 7,000 satellites in orbit and is making an attempt so as to add extra. Nevertheless it’s unclear how shortly Starlink may really add extra customers, because the firm already has a ready listing for folks to enroll as a result of its community is at capability.
That’s to not point out the truth that, for now, Starlink is neither quicker nor cheaper than terrestrial broadband. Starlink delivers obtain speeds of fifty to 100 Mbps, whereas the FCC defines broadband as 100 Mbps. The typical obtain velocity within the US is about 275 Mbps. Starlink additionally at the moment fees clients $80 a month for its “Residential Lite” service, whereas the typical US web invoice is $78 a month.
That is what makes the Trump administration’s obvious preferential remedy of Musk’s firm so irritating. It’s a poorer resolution that takes longer and doesn’t end in financial savings for many People.
Musk posts Starlink into the FAA
We don’t but know the way issues will shake out with BEAD. The Commerce Division may change its thoughts, and the broadband infrastructure enlargement may break floor in just a few states this spring. Nonetheless, the Trump administration is already beginning to use Starlink in uncommon methods.
The FAA, like many federal authorities companies, is coping with large workers cuts on the behest of Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity. Simply days after 67 folks died in a midair collision close to Washington’s Reagan Airport, Musk’s workers urged FAA staffers to just accept buyout presents, which greater than 1,300 of them did, in line with the Atlantic. DOGE additionally ended up firing about 400 FAA staff. When Musk’s workforce tried to put off air site visitors controllers, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy lastly intervened.
On the similar time — and working on orders from Musk himself — a SpaceX engineer began to deploy Starlink know-how on FAA techniques. Musk posted on X that “the Verizon communication system to air site visitors management is breaking down very quickly,” that “the scenario is extraordinarily dire,” and that he would ship Starlink dishes to the rescue. The FAA has since confirmed that it’s reviewing the $2.4 billion Verizon contract and testing Starlink gear at a number of areas, together with in Alaska, New Jersey, and Oklahoma.
Musk’s posting-fueled intervention on the FAA is a scary one. Virtually single-handedly, the billionaire threw chilly water on a contract with Verizon, one that may have an effect on the protection and safety of People. Though it’s not clear if Starlink will certainly take over this specific contract, we’ve a glimpse at what it seems to be like for a singular bureaucrat — one which sells satellite tv for pc dishes that don’t at all times work — to name the pictures.
“For those who’re downloading stuff to your own home in a rural space, and your velocity drops as a result of the system is oversubscribed, that’s annoying,” mentioned Harold Feld, senior vp of Public Data. “For those who’re the FAA, and your velocity drops as a result of the capability is oversubscribed, that’s lethal.”
Undertaking 2025’s shocking function in all this
Elon Musk and DOGE, which is run by staff of Musk’s corporations, definitely seem like working throughout the federal authorities to advertise the perfect pursuits of these corporations. The “why” of all of it will take a while to determine. Lower than two months into Trump’s second presidency, we’re too busy protecting monitor of what’s even occurring, particularly the place Musk is concerned.
As for Starlink and Elon Musk’s obvious ambitions to dominate the US telecom trade, the FCC’s cooperation is important. And Brendan Carr, the company’s new chair, occurs to be a giant Elon Musk fan. Carr first made contact with Musk on X, the place the 2 exchanged complaints about Democrats denying Starlink broadband subsidies and blamed Kamala Harris for rolling BEAD out too slowly. Carr was additionally the creator of the chapter on the FCC for the large report printed by the Heritage Basis’s Undertaking 2025. In it, he argues in opposition to terrestrial broadband enlargement and in favor of accelerating the event of satellite tv for pc know-how, like Starlink.
Considered one of Undertaking 2025’s fundamental objectives is to “dismantle the executive state,” and in Musk, the best discovered a key ally. Musk has additionally discovered a possibility: When the bureaucrats are all fired, somebody nonetheless has to make selections, and it’s simpler to maneuver shortly with none oversight.
The world over, individuals are setting Tesla dealerships on hearth to protest Musk’s gutting of the federal workforce and hoping to tank its inventory. However what’s occurring extra quietly with Starlink, the Commerce Division, and the FCC reveals that the multibillionaire isn’t simply fascinated about making a living. He’s consolidating energy in Washington and serving to decide what the long run will seem like.
Promoting vehicles is one factor, however taking management over America’s telecommunications community is one other. Musk is just not there but, however we’ve already seen Musk use Starlink particularly to intervene in army operations overseas — he prevented Ukraine from launching a shock assault in opposition to Russia in 2022. That units a scary precedent for what the long run holds.
“Elon Musk has been fairly cavalier about his capacity to activate or flip off Starlink to affect coverage selections,” Garner, from the Benton Institute, advised me, referring to a sequence of latest posts on X from Musk about chopping off Starlink entry in Ukraine.
It’s not simply scary that Musk is turning into extra highly effective within the telecom trade. It’s uniquely terrifying that he alone may resolve to deliver networks down. And that is perhaps an much more essential improvement to maintain our eyes on than the Tesla advert he produced in entrance of the White Home.
A model of this story was additionally printed within the Consumer Pleasant e-newsletter. Enroll right here so that you don’t miss the following one!
