Elon Musk claims his Starlink satellite-internet system should be able to provide a connection from anywhere except the poles by August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He spoke as rival OneWeb secured the funding it needs to complete its first-generation constellation of 648 satellites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Starlink customers connect using small satellite receivers, dubbed Dishy McFlatFace, priced at $500 (\u00a3360).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Mr Musk said the terminals cost more than $1,000 (\u00a3720).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Appearing remotely at Mobile World Congress, which is being held both physically in Barcelona and also online, he said Starlink “has passed the strategically notable number of 69,420 active users”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And he hoped to have 500,000 users within 12 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company had two partnerships with “major country” telecommunications companies, Mr Musk said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Starlink helped companies meet their 5G licence conditions, which require supplying coverage to rural customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Space X has launched about 1,800 satellites into orbit already and hopes to have 12,000 in the sky by 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The combined solar power of the satellites generated 5MW of electricity, Mr Musk said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Starlink began a UK trial of its services in January, after Ofcom granted it a licence in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OneWeb, partly UK taxpayer owned, has 218 satellites in low Earth orbit and is due to launch a further 36 on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is expected to begin offering commercial internet services soon, covering latitudes above 50 degrees north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And this month, OneWeb and BT signed a deal to explore ways to provide broadband internet to remote areas of the UK and at sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amazon also plans to launch a constellation of low Earth-orbit satellites to provide broadband access to remote areas, as part of its Project Kuiper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Astronomers have raised concerns about the light pollution and other interference cased by these constellations of low Earth-orbit satellites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Elon Musk claims his Starlink satellite-internet system should be able to provide a connection from anywhere except the poles by August. He spoke as rival OneWeb secured the funding it needs to complete its first-generation constellation of 648 satellites. Starlink customers connect using small satellite receivers, dubbed Dishy McFlatFace, priced at $500 (\u00a3360). But Mr […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n