United has signed an inflight connectivity agreement with SpaceX to bring Starlink’s Wi-Fi service to the airline’s mainline and regional aircraft fleet – for free. United customers will soon enjoy the same high-speed, low-latency internet service in the air that they enjoy on the ground. The new, gate-to-gate connectivity will unlock experiences in the sky […]
On September 8th Elon Musk told an enquirer on X that Starlink’s satellite broadband service is awaiting regulatory approval in South Africa. However, according to regulator Icasa, it has not received a licence application. Icasa made an unambiguous statement on September 9th saying: “Please note that Icasa has not received an application [from Starlink] as […]
SpaceX’s Starlink factory in Bastrop, Texas, is now the company’s largest hardware manufacturing unit, and is in business and expanding further. Local comments suggest the factory, which opened in July 2023 and is adjacent to Elon Musk’s Boring Company, is approximately double in size. The Texas factory is capable of producing 90,000 Starlink broadband terminals […]
On September 5th a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket placed its 7,001st Starlink satellite into orbit. That’s good news, and amongst that number there were 13 of its Direct to Cell (D2C) versions capable of communications direct to smartphones. Those D2C satellites now number 181 in orbit. But a report from Scotiabank itemises the very real […]
A report from analysts at QuiltSpace says that Elon Musk’s Starlink broadband-by-satellite system is missing out business with airlines, themselves rapidly adopting satellite delivery for their in-flight communications and entertainment services. Quilty praises Starlink for hitting the maritime industry “like a tsunami” and swallowing up cruise lines, yachts, and merchant vessels at such high rates […]
John Deere is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of farm and agriculture products. It is already supplying farmers with automated solutions for some of their tractors and harvesters and using conventional terrestrial cellular connectivity. Back in January, John Deere announced an upgrade to its automation options and using Starlink as the key element in […]
Elon Musk, in a Tweet on X, says he will “blast away the dead [cellular] zones,” helped by a launch on August 31st which added 26 Starlink satellites suitable for handling calls direct–to–cellular (DTC). The latest batch takes the number of DTC satellites to 168, with another launch likely later this week. However, waiting in […]
Comments made by critics of Brazil’s government on X has resulted in Starlink being banned in the country. There are a reported 250,000 users of Starlink in Brazil, and Elon Musk says that SpaceX will continue to support them and not charge a monthly fee while the dispute continues. Musk said: “SpaceX and X are […]
SpaceX’s Starlink broadband by satellite system is offering free connections for emergency calls when smart–phone users are in rural or maritime regions anywhere in the world. Elon Musk, in a post on his X platform, said: “After thinking it through, SpaceX Starlink will provideemergency services access for mobile phones for people in distress for free. […]
Kenya’s largest telco Safaricom is urging the government to bar SpaceX’s Starlink from operating over the country, or at least to require the Elon Musk–owned business to take on a local partner. Safaricom’s letter to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) said: “Satellite coverage inherently spans multiple territorial borders and in doing so has the […]