Commissioner Brendan Carr Calls Out Agency’s Hypocrisy

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr is raising eyebrows over what he sees as conflicting viewpoints from the agency regarding SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service. This trails FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel calling out an alleged Starlink “monopoly,” noting the provider’s impressive 7,000 satellite milestone.

Rosenworcel recently expressed her concern about Starlink’s dominance, stating that the company owns “almost two-thirds of the satellites that are in space right now and has a very high portion of internet traffic… Our economy doesn’t benefit from monopolies. So we’ve got to invite many more space actors in, many more companies that can develop constellations and innovations in space.”

This argument directly contradicts the FCC's previous statement. Less than a year ago, the agency claimed that Starlink was not “reasonably capable of providing high-speed internet.” This opinion was used to explain why the FCC denied SpaceX nearly $900 million in grant funding, which aimed to expand internet access to 640,000 underserved homes and businesses.

In a recent interview, Carr expressed his confusion with the FCC’s inconsistencies.

“In 2023, they say Starlink is not reasonably capable of providing high-speed internet,” he commented. “Then in 2024, they’re calling it a monopoly. There’s just no way to square what’s going on here with a fair application of the law or the facts. It just looks like partisan politics.”

Carr clarified that he is not against increasing competition; however, he believes the FCC’s Starlink “monopoly” claim was inappropriate. He then linked the timing of the denial of the grant to President Biden's comments on Elon Musk's international relations.

The FCC decision, Carr argued, has the most significant impact on rural Americans who don’t have access to reliable internet.

“We’re now planning on spending billions and billions of dollars to try to get high-speed internet service to those same locations—doing it on a shoestring budget,” he continued.

The FCC assured that its decisions are based purely on regulatory compliance. “The FCC is an independent agency. Any notion that its decisions are politically motivated and not fact-based is false,” it stated.

FMI: www.fcc.gov