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 […]

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 […]

Local reports in India say that SpaceX’s Starlink broadband-by-satellite service will be approved for operation and distribution in October. One report, quoting local officials, said: “Processing Starlink’s application took a long time because the company was slow in completing the necessary documentation.” Starlink has completed the full application process and India is now prepared to […]

A SpaceX rocket has successfully placed into orbit another batch of its Starlink satellites, and again equipped with inter-satellite laser links. Starlink says its satellites are able to connect thousands of kilometres apart, beyond the view of ground stations, and maintain pointing accuracy to enable data transfer up to 100 Gbps on each link. The […]

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 […]

Zimbabwe’s government will be authorising Starlink to be used in the nation. Zimbabwe’s Postal & Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz), is reportedly ready to approve an application by SpaceX to launch Starlink services in the Southern African country. The move means that Zimbabwe joins a growing number of African nations to have authorised Starlink – except […]

The commercial agreement between SES and SpaceX’s Starlink to jointly serve the fast-growing cruise market is a major move for both businesses. SES, using its O3b medium Earth orbiting (MEO) satellites, and SpaceX’s Starlink, both have existing relationships with cruise lines. This new relationship will see SES sell and manage multi-orbit connectivity services into the […]

SpaceX says that its early antennas for its Starlink service were costing around $3,000 (€2,813) per unit. Those costs have steadily come down in place over the past two years. By early 2021 the cost-per-unit for the highly-complex antennas had fallen to about $1,300 per terminal. Now, the terminals cost less to make than the […]

SES is creating what it describes as a “first time ever” service for cruise liners. It is using its own O3b mid-Earth orbiting (MEO) satellites and linking with SpaceX’s Starlink’s low-Earth orbiting (LEO) system on a single managed solution for the cruise industry. The joint offering – SES Cruise mPOWERED + Starlink – integrated, sold […]