SpaceX among Perry broadband project awards – pennlive.com

Three projects intended to increase the reach of broadband internet in Perry County over the next 10 years will include one by Elon Musks SpaceX company, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

The FCC on Dec. 7 announced the $9.2 billion award of money to companies around the country to increase broadband internet connectivity in rural communities. The money comes from fees that telecommunications customers pay. Pennsylvania as a whole is receiving $368.7 million in this round of awards to connect 327,000 rural customers.

In Perry County, three companies received more than $7.7 million to improve broadband to 4,200 homes and businesses, according to the FCCs Pennsylvania news release. The projects are designed to increase internet speeds to at least 100 megabits per second (Mbps) on download and 20 Mbps for uploads in unserved and underserved areas. However, a majority of projects would improve speeds to the gigabit levels, according to the FCC.

There was a strong and unified flow of comments from PA leadership and organizations to the FCC, encouraging the FCC to ensure that the auction process would give priority to unserved areas, instead of seeing the dollars simply flow to boosting speeds in areas that currently have service, said Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

The winning companies and project scopes for Perry County are:

According to the telecom publication LightReading, Connect Everyone is a company attached to the next generation internet firm Starry, based in Boston and New York City.

Virginia Lam Abrams, a Starry spokesperson, confirmed in an email that Connect Everyone is a Starry Internet venture. However, due to FCC rules the company could not comment about the broadband projects at this time. More information could be available after January, she said. According to Starrys website, the company uses fixed wireless technology to expand broadband internet.

Space Exploration Technologies is a division of Musks SpaceX, the same Hawthorne, Calif., company working with NASA on new space-flight rockets. Musk is also the force behind the Tesla brand of electric cars. SpaceXs rural broadband projects are expected to use satellite technology.

Over the past couple years, SpaceX has been launching its Starlink satellites, which will create a network to expand broadband internet anywhere. There will eventually be thousands of satellites to create a seamless internet experience globally, according to SpaceX. The company began testing the new technology in October.

Windstream Services is a division of Windstream, the Little Rock, Ark.-based telecom company. It operates internet and other services in Pennsylvania. The LightReading story pointed to various technologies such as next generation DSL, fiber optic and wireless as potential for Windstreams projects.

Windstream also could not comment about the project due to FCC rules, said Scott Morris, a company spokesman.

Its not known when the projects would start, or what areas of the county would be served by the companies broadband solutions.

Jim T. Ryan can be reached via email at jtryan@perrycountytimes.com