Starlink dish and Viasat dish (Credit: Getty Images) A resident in Virginia has urged the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider canceling $886 million in federal funding for SpaceX’s Starlink system. But rival satellite company Viasat has gone out of its way to oppose the citizen-led petition. On Jan. 1, the FCC received a petition from the Virginia resident Greg Weisiger asking the commission to reconsider denying the $886 million to SpaceX. “Petitioner is at an absolute loss to understand the Commission’s logic with these denials,” wrote Weisiger, who lives in Midlothian, Virginia. “It is abundantly clear that Starlink has a robust, reliable, affordable service for rural and insular locations in all states and territories." You May Also Like The petition arrived a few weeks after the FCC denied SpaceX’s appeal to receive $886 million from the commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, which is designed to subsidize 100Mbps to gigabit broadband across the US. SpaceX wanted to use the funds to expand Starlink access in rural areas. But the FCC ruled that “Starlink is not reasonably capable of offering the required high-speed, low latency service throughout the areas where it won auction support.” Weisiger disagrees. In his petition, he writes that the FCC's decision will deprive him of federal support to bring high-speed internet to his home. “Thousands of other Virginia locations were similarly denied support,” he added. (Credit: Getty Images) Weisiger’s petition goes on to argue that SpaceX’s Starlink system can be a more cost-effective way to deliver high-speed internet when inflation has been preventing traditional ISPs from building out fiber networks. It’s doubtful his petition will sway the FCC since the commission spent over a year studying the matter before reaffirming its decision to deny SpaceX the funding. Nevertheless, Starlink rival Viasat decided to weigh in by submitting its own filing last week urging the FCC to reject Weisiger’s petition. Get Our Best Stories!