Elon Musk, CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images
LONDON – SpaceX’s satellite broadband service, Starlink, is now being tested in the UK after receiving a license from the UK’s telecommunications regulator Ofcom.
Starlink received a “ground station network license” in November, an Ofcom spokesman told CNBC on Tuesday. SpaceX did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The £ 200 ($ 272) annual license allows Starlink to sell satellite dishes and other communication equipment in the UK so that people can pick up signals emitted by the Starlink satellite network.
Founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, SpaceX is an aerospace manufacturer and space transport company. She announced that she was creating the Starlink subdivision in 2015.
Musk, who is now the richest person in the world, said he wants to improve Internet access in parts of the world that are currently not served by broadband providers. He plans to do this by placing thousands of small telecommunications satellites in low Earth orbit that can send high-speed, low-latency internet to the ground.
In an interview last March, Musk said that SpaceX could earn up to $ 30 billion a year by providing broadband. He said that Starlink will be “useful for telecommunications companies because Starlink will serve the most difficult customers to serve”, adding that 5G is not great for the field because “you need reach”.
Starlink, which will compete with OneWeb UK, aims to have 1,440 of its 260 kg (570 lb) satellites in orbit by the end of 2021.
The company, which focuses mainly on connecting rural areas where the Internet is unreliable or unavailable, has been inviting people in the United States and Canada to try the service since October.
It is now inviting people in the UK by email, according to reports and social media users. Starlink is charging UK customers £ 439 for satellite dish and other communication equipment, in addition to £ 89 per month and £ 54 per freight.
Those testing the service can expect data speeds between 50 megabits per second (Mbps) and 150 Mbps, according to reports. The average broadband speed in the UK is 64 Mbps, but those in rural areas often struggle to get close to that. It is unclear how many homes and offices are using the Starlink service.
SpaceX created a British entity in London called Starlink Internet Services last August, according to a document filed with the UK Companies House.
A photo of what appears to be one of the first Starlink deliveries in the UK was shared on Reddit by Philip Hall, who lives in rural Devon, southwest England.
“As an enthusiast with no fiber (broadband) perspective in the short term, I signed up for the beta very early,” Hall told CNBC via Reddit on Thursday.
Hall, who has already deployed air defense networks for the UK military, said: “The technological capability of this, at the consumer level, is staggering.”
In terms of performance, Hall said he can consistently get download speeds of 80 Mbps at home.
He suspects he bought a Starlink antenna because the company wants data before a commercial launch and he is at the right latitude.
Describing the configuration, Hall said it is like many other devices. He installed an app on his Android phone, made sure the dish had a clear view of the sky (something that was easy in rural Devon) and connected it. “The app asks you to register a name and password and you are cooking,” he said.
Greece, Germany and Australia also approved Starlink’s offer.