Boston wireless Internet company Starry won approval from federal regulators to provide subsidized service to consumers in eight states.
The nod from the Federal Communications Commission puts Starry in line to receive about $270 million from the government’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund over the next 10 years.
Starry’s approval was far from assured. The FCC last month rejected Elon Musk’s Starlink space Internet service from participating in the program, saying the company could not deliver service at promised speeds and required expensive equipment.
Unlike Starlink, which uses a constellation of thousands of satellites and requires that customers buy a $600 receiver, Starry’s service uses entirely ground-based equipment and provides free Wi-Fi routers.
Both companies were among the top winners of the FCC’s 2020 Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction. Bidders competed to offer Internet service to unserved areas at the lowest cost. Altogether, Starry won the rights to offer service in parts of nine states, including Arizona, Colorado, and Illinois. But Starry said FCC approval is still pending for its bid to provide service in one state, Mississippi.
“Having high-speed, reliable home broadband access has never been more important and programs like RDOF are critical to ensuring that every community in the US has access to this essential service,” Chet Kanojia, Starry’s cofounder and chief executive, said in a statement.
Starry already offers its $50-per-month service in parts of Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Columbus, Denver, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
Starry’s stock price lost 2 percent in pre-market trading after the announcement. The stock has lost 76 percent since Starry went public by merging with a special purpose acquisition corporation in March.
Aaron Pressman can be reached at aaron.pressman@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @ampressman.
