By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. Home committee mentioned on Monday it’s investigating the Federal Communications Fee’s resolution to disclaim SpaceX satellite tv for pc web unit Starlink $885.5 million in rural broadband subsidies.

The FCC mentioned in December reaffirming its place that the choice impacting Elon Musk’s house firm was primarily based on Starlink’s failure to fulfill fundamental program necessities and that Starlink couldn’t display it may ship promised service after SpaceX had challenged the 2022 resolution.

Home Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, a Republican, requested the FCC in a letter Monday to show over paperwork by Oct. 21 on the choice. The committee seeks to make sure the FCC “followed established processes and is not improperly using the regulatory process for political purposes.”

The FCC mentioned it had obtained the letter and would reply.

In December 2020, the FCC tentatively awarded $9.2 billion to over 300 bidders to deploy high-speed broadband with SpaceX’s Starlink profitable $885.5 million in a 2020 public sale for rural service.

The FCC opted to disclaim Starlink the funding in August 2022, citing speed-test knowledge after Starlink had agreed to supply high-speed Web service to 642,000 rural properties and companies in 35 states.

Musk has harshly criticized the FCC resolution to disclaim the award he referred to as “illegal” and asserted final week that if Starlink had obtained he funding “it would probably have saved lives in North Carolina” amid Hurricane Helene.

FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel informed Congress in February that Starlink’s publicly out there efficiency knowledge has confirmed its prior discovering that “Starlink had difficulty meeting the basic uplink and downlink speed standards for the program” and added Starlink’s proposal would have required subscribers to buy a $600 dish to begin service.

The 2 Republican commissioners on the five-member FCC dissented from the choice saying the FCC was improperly holding SpaceX to 2025 targets early.

Final month, Rosenworcel mentioned she needs to see extra competitors to Starlink, noting it controls practically two-thirds of all lively satellites and has launched about 7,000 satellites since 2018.

“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,” she mentioned.