SpaceX’s satellite internet division, Starlink has now revealed its plans to start providing continuous global coverage by around September this year. However, the company will need to seek regulatory approvals from all countries across the world, according to Starlink’s president Gwynne Shotwel.
“We’ve successfully deployed 1,800 or so satellites and once all those satellites reach their operational orbit, we will have continuous global coverage, so that should be like September timeframe,” she said speaking at a Macquarie Group technology conference via webcast.
“But then we have regulatory work to go into every country and get approved to provide telecoms services.”
As it stands, Starlink provides beta internet services in 11 countries. According to Shotwel. the company plans to employ up to 12,000 satellites in space, a project that would cost roughly $10 billion. Of course, this is a strategy that is meant to ensure the firm’s services are as stable as possible for all its clients across the globe.
This comes shortly after the Elon Musk-owned ISP revealed its plans to offer these beta services to Nigeria. The beta service comes with a price tag of $99 (roughly KES10,600) per month. There’s also a $499 (roughly KES53,500) upfront fee for the Starlink kit. This consists of all the necessary hardware: a small satellite dish, a router, power supply and a mounting tripod.
Despite the huge installation and subscription charges, it would still be exciting to see Starlink set up the service in Kenya as well. And with the company recently receiving approval to deploy more satellites, it’s only a matter of time before the coverage is expanded.
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