This week, Elon Musk proudly announced, via Twitter of course, that Starlink, the satellite internet service, now has more than 100,000 (paying) customers. Originally intended as an alternative to providing high-speed internet in remote areas, the service is now available in 14 countries. In addition to the Germany, UK, and Canada, this includes many densely populated and well-wired countries such as the Netherlands and Switzerland.
Starlink was overtaken by other solutions
In Western countries, in particular, Starlink seems to be overtaken, and partly already due to the accelerated rollout of fiber optic, new cable technology (DOCSIS 3.1), and 5G. Developments in which the ‘white spots’ on maps – where no broadband internet is available – are becoming smaller and smaller. And therefore the need for a solution such as Starlink, for which the idea arose at a time when not everyone and everywhere had access to a 10 Mbit internet connection, is slowly but surely disappearing. The promised doubling of the internet speed that Starlink will offer will not be able to change that much either.
Starlink continues, Google already pulled the plug on Project Loon
This does not alter the fact that there may still be a future for satellite internet. And I mean in particular the really remote areas, such as the interior of Africa, Australia, China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Lapland, and much more such sparsely populated and sometimes inhospitable places. Areas where building a mobile network is not an option. The question then remains whether a provider such as Starlink can sell enough subscriptions there to be able to offer a profitable service. Time will tell that.
However, Google saw no point in that a few months ago when it decided to pull the plug on Project Loon. That was a solution for broadband internet coverage in remote areas using hundreds of hot air balloons floating in the stratosphere.
Starlink should eventually become a global wireless network. To this end, more than 11,000 satellites will be placed in orbit around the earth. Some of them, about 4,400, are so-called low-orbit satellites, at an altitude of 335 to 346 kilometers. The remaining satellites will operate in higher orbits, ranging from 500 to 1325 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.
