From Hawaii to Maine, States Look to Regulate as LEO Reliability Improves

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16, 2025 – Officials and industry analysts said that state and tribal agencies are still determining how to regulate and monitor LEO satellites, as technical data show improving reliability and latency.

The discussion hosted by Ookla Industry Analyst Mike Dano, featured David Bresnahan, Senior Manager of Grants and Programs at the Maine Connectivity Authority; Jaren Tengan, Broadband Coordinator at the Hawaii Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; and Armand Musey, President and Founder of Summit Ridge Group. 

Together, they discussed how state regulators and policymakers are developing oversight approaches to address the unique challenges of satellite broadband.

“One of the things for regulatory compliance is making sure that providers have a certificate of authority to operate in our state. We can’t enforce certain rules on them if they don’t have that.” said Tengan.

Tengan said the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is working to define how to track compliance and ensure providers meet minimum service standards. “The Ookla dataset is key to unlocking how to monitor the situation.”

Bresnahan said user density for LEO networks remained difficult to define. Maine’s low population density means coverage depends less on individual satellites and more on how ground areas are divided among clusters of satellites, he noted. There is still no clear standard for how many users each cell can support, and scalability remains a key challenge for LEO providers.

Musey added that while LEO systems offer latency well below 100 milliseconds — with Starlink often around 40 ms — their regulatory treatment is still evolving.

Ookla’s Dano noted that independent, third-party performance data may become the most practical oversight mechanism available to states. Recent Ookla findings show Starlink’s average U.S. latency declined from 52 ms in 2024 to about 40 ms in 2025, approaching the performance of terrestrial mobile networks.

Panelists agreed that such datasets could help states without in-house engineering expertise evaluate whether providers are meeting service expectations.