https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/10/12/helene-starlink-rural-internet-connectivity-satellites-musk/Elon Musk’s up-and-coming satellite company Starlink had sought federal regulators’ approval for months to try out its groundbreaking technology for beaming cell service directly from space to smartphones.
Established mobile operators AT&T and Verizon were lobbying for regulators to deny part of Starlink’s plan, saying it would interfere with their services. A decision seemed likely to drag out until next year.
Then Hurricane Helene hit.
Starlink’s team jumped into action, arriving in flood-ravaged North Carolina with mobile satellite dishes even as roads remained impassible. “We are sending them terminals right away,” Musk posted on X.
Starlink has emerged as a political lightning rod in the process. Musk has publicly traded curt words with FEMA officials and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg over what he said was Starlink staff’s limited access on the ground in North Carolina. House Republicans, meanwhile, have launched a probe into why the Biden administration previously turned down Starlink for nearly a billion dollars in federal grants earmarked for extending internet service to remote parts of the United States.
Some have questioned whether Starlink’s involvement has been purely humanitarian. The company has come under criticism in recent days after users discovered that the “free” Starlink broadband service advertised for hurricane survivors only lasted a month and required them to spend several hundred dollars purchasing a terminal.
“It’s shameful that Elon Musk is callously taking advantage of a devastating hurricane,” Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) said in a statement.
