House Bill Could Open Appalachian Broadband Funds to Starlink
GAO study would evaluate whether the Appalachian Regional Commission should fund LEO providers.
Jericho Casper
WASHINGTON, March 31, 2025 – A new House bill could open the door for Starlink and other low-Earth orbit satellite providers to secure federal broadband funding through one of Appalachia’s primary economic development agencies.
Introduced by Rep. David Taylor, R-Ohio, the Expanding Appalachia’s Broadband Access Act would require the Government Accountability Office to assess whether the Appalachian Regional Commission can incorporate satellite-based broadband into its infrastructure grant programs.
Under Taylor’s bill, the GAO would have 90 days to deliver a report to Congress evaluating: the capacity of LEO satellite service for business use; economic development outcomes in areas currently using LEO satellites; and the cost-effectiveness of satellite deployments compared to other technologies.
The Appalachian Regional Commission, a federal-state partnership covering 13 Appalachian states, has historically prioritized fiber-optic infrastructure with its broadband grants.
According to 2025 application guidance, ARC requires eligible providers to reliably deliver symmetrical 100/100 Megabit per second (Mbps) speeds with latency under 100 milliseconds. Providers must also offer affordable service with no data caps or throttling.
At present, Starlink, the largest and most widely available LEO provider in the U.S., typically delivers download speeds between 25 and 220 Mbps, with most users receiving over 100 Mbps, according to the company’s website. Upload speeds, however, range from just 5 to 20 Mbps, and latency ranges between 25 and 60 milliseconds though it can exceed 100 ms in remote areas such as Alaska, Antarctica, and parts of northern Canada.
According to the company’s legal disclaimer, “[s]tated speeds below and the uninterrupted use of the Services is not guaranteed… Performance varies based on location, time of day and the precedence Starlink gives your data in the network based on your Service Plan.”
The company has also recently implemented soft data caps for certain plans, with throttling down to 1 Mbps once users exceed their data allowance.
Taylor, who has called Starlink “the only way” to connect rural southern Ohio, met with Starlink representatives last month.
“It was great chatting with Starlink about how [Ohio’s Second District] can expand broadband across our rural areas!,” Taylor posted to X on Feb. 10. “Southern Ohio's local businesses, farmers, & families need broadband access so they can connect with the larger economy & thrive.”
The bill comes as Trump-aligned Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have pushed to include Starlink in the $42.45 billion Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment program, created under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.
Starlink owner Elon Musk contributed over $291 million to Republican candidates and political action committees during the 2024 election cycle, making him the largest individual donor of that period.
