Advanced Television

elon musk

Musk’s Starship targetting Nov 17 launch

SpaceX could launch its second test flight of its Starship rocket on Novembr 17th. However, the rocket company says that it is still – as at November 13th – awaiting formal permission to come from the Federal Aviation Administration and other regulatory agencies. Elon Musk, in a Tweet/X on Novembr 14th said: “Was just informed […]

November 14, 2023

SpaceX targets $15bn sales in 2024

A combination of commercial launches with its Falcon 9 rocket plus the growing subscription income from its Starlink broadband-by-satellite service will propel SpaceX to sales in 2024 of around $15 billion (€14.07bn) according to a report from Bloomberg. SpaceX’s rocket and broadband business is forecasted achieve sales this year of some $9 billion. The report […]

November 8, 2023By Chris Forrester

Starlink hits “cash-flow breakeven”

Elon Musk’s broadband-by-satellite system, Starlink, has achieved “cash-flow breakeven” according to a company statement. There are more than 5,000 Starlink satellites in orbit. Privately held, it is valued at some $150 billion (€140.9bn). While the claim is useful and anticipates the next ‘reveal’ of Starlinks global subscriber base (likely to be around 2.5 million ‘active […]

November 3, 2023By Chris Forrester

Musk launching premium tiers on X

Elon Musk has said his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, will soon launch two premium subscription tiers. “Two new tiers of X Premium subscriptions launching soon. One is lower cost with all features, but no reduction in ads, and the other is more expensive, but has no ads,” Musk said in a post on […]

October 20, 2023

Starlink’s approvals start flowing

Starlink, Elon Musk’s broadband-by-satellite service, is still missing some major potential markets. A few days ago, news emerged that India could be close to granting Starlink permission to operate. But a new study suggests there’s still some way to go for Starlink. Data from analysts at Payload says that 2024 will see Starlink services start […]

October 9, 2023By Chris Forrester

Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo invests in SpaceX

Italian largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, has announced that it intends to invest in Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket business. The bank is Italy’s largest. Intesa Sanpaolo said in a press release that the move is in line with the bank’s business plan for 2022-2025. In the plan, innovation represents one of the most important aspects of […]

October 9, 2023By Chris Forrester

Starlink readies ‘Direct-to-Cellular’

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has licensed Elon Musk’s Starlink service to test a ‘Direct-to-device’ service. SpaceX will launch the first of a new batch of enabled satellites in December which when fully established will permit users to make calls via Starlink. Apple and Globalstar already have a similar service running, while Omnispace is planning […]

October 3, 2023By Chris Forrester

Starlink invited to cover Turkey

Last week it was India which said that it was about to grant permissions for Starlink to operate over the nation. Now Turkey says that Starlink can apply for licences. The news follows on from an in-person meeting that Elon Musk had with Turkey’s President Erdogan in New York on September 18th. Erdogan reportedly wants […]

October 2, 2023By Chris Forrester

Starlink exceeds 2m customers

SpaceX’s Starlink broadband-by-satellite service has reported that it now has more than 2 million “active customers and counting” in over 60 countries – double the number from just nine months ago. Some observers have asked ‘what is an active customer?’ and questioned why Starlink doesn’t use the commonplace description of a paying ‘subscriber’. However, Starlink […]

September 25, 2023By Chris Forrester

Are LEO operators risking too much?

Once upon a time there were many would-be alternative cellular carriers expecting to tap into the world’s seemingly insatiable demand for bandwidth. Names such as WorldCom, Global Crossing and Teledesic each raised billions, and flew too close to the sun during the so-called Tech Boom, and each ended in bankruptcy. The problem is that the […]

September 20, 2023