How a Trump Phone Call to Musk Opened Communications to Thousands in Western North Carolina
A North Carolina state senator all too familiar with hurricanes made one call. Western North Carolina will get thousands more out of it.
In a social media post Tuesday afternoon, state Sen. Danny Britt, R-Robeson, said he put in a call to former President Donald Trump so communications crushed by the remnants of Hurricane Helene could be restored quicker. Trump called Elon Musk, and “as many Starlink devices as we need to help save North Carolinians” are committed, Britt wrote.
According to its website, Starlink “is the world’s first and largest satellite constellation using a low Earth orbit to deliver broadband internet capable of supporting streaming, online gaming, video calls and more.” Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX is the parent of the subsidiary that launched in 2019.
Communications companies, like Verizon and AT&T, are dealing with cell towers that tumbled and fiber cables that are damaged. Federal aid – regularly wrapped in bureacratic government red tape reg