SpaceX is pushing for US states to modify performance requirements for satellite service operators as part of the government's $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program.

Broadband.io obtained a leaked document that reveals Elon Musk's SpaceX is asking that states sign a waiver with several provisions regarding low Earth orbit (LEO) capacity reserves, subscriber metrics, and payments.

BEAD, which was set up by the Biden administration and confirmed by Congress in November 2021, has been implemented by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

The federal grant program was designed to fund projects dedicated to providing Internet infrastructure in unserved locations across the US and its territories. The aim of the program is to provide universal broadband access for Americans across the country.

Although BEAD was initially set to favor fiber providers, a rejig of the government-funded program last year meant that the program was opened up to satellite providers, such as SpaceX's Starlink.

As such, SpaceX has been granted funding of $733.5 million to support the program and deploy its Internet broadband to more than 472,600 locations across the US, as per Connected Nation figures.

According to the leaked document, SpaceX wants half of the money paid up front, and has requested that states sign a waiver to agree to this.

"State shall pay the Grantee 50 percent of the total Grant Funds upon the Grantee making the certification described in Section 2.a herein," as per the rider, shared by Broadband.io.

Several “concerned states" got in touch with the website's admin regarding the document sent to them by SpaceX.

The NTIA has reportedly told the states to not sign the waiver. It's unclear whether SpaceX will walk away if its requests aren't granted.

SpaceX also noted that it “shall reserve an amount of network capacity that it determines sufficient for purposes of delivering Broadband Service to BSLs in the Project Area,” before adding that Starlink “is not required to keep reserved capacity fallow where potential subscribers in the Project Area have not yet requested service.”

This goes against the LEO subgrant rule in NTIA’s June 6 policy notice. "Pursuant to a LEO Capacity Subgrant, an Eligible Entity shall reserve sufficient capacity from the LEO provider to deliver broadband service that meets the BEAD performance and technical requirements to each BSL in the project area," states the NTIA.

On top of this, SpaceX also wrote to inform states that it wants exemptions from network performance, noting that this is not guaranteed.

"Network performance testing for purposes of this agreement shall exclude subscribers who have installed CPE such that its view of the sky is obstructed and subscribers with damaged or malfunctioning CPE [consumer premise equipment], as determined by Grantee [Starlink]," wrote SpaceX.

The company isn't the only satellite operator set to play a significant part in the rollout of the BEAD program. In total, more than 892,000 locations are set to be covered by satellite broadband.

Rival satellite operator Amazon Leo (previously Kuiper), is set to take up a big chunk of that with around 415,000 locations, although it is yet to launch commercial services.