The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities supports access to SpaceX Starlink internet in Canada

Featured Image Source: SpaceX Starlink

SpaceX is looking forward to providing Starlink satellite broadband internet service worldwide. The company aims to initially offer connection in rural areas of the northern United States and Canada before this year ends. To date, there are around 708 internet-beaming Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit. Once the constellation has about 800 satellites, SpaceX plans to roll-out “moderate” internet coverage. Starlink customers will receive broadband service via user dish terminals (pictured above) that will be easy to install.

SpaceX already initiated a private beta testing phase of the network among employees. Jonathan Hofeller SpaceX Vice-President of Starlink and Commercial Sales, shared he already installed a Starlink Terminal in his home. “I have deployed one on my house, it’s very exciting to get one. The instructions are super-easy. You plug it in, and you point it at the sky, and a few seconds later you have internet. It’s truly remarkable,” he told reporters.

In June, SpaceX submitted a regulatory filing to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to apply for a telecommunications license in Canada. The license SpaceX is seeking is a Basic International Telecommunications Services (BITS) license. If approved, it would authorize the company to beam Starlink’s data – “telecommunications traffic between Canada and any other country,” the filing reads.

This week on September 16, the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) Board of Directors held a meeting to discuss their support for bringing SpaceX’s Starlink broadband internet service to Canada. “The Board adopted a resolution during a recent meeting in Hearst, held both electronically and in-person, supporting Starlink, a satellite internet service that’s being developed by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation’s (SpaceX),” FONOM representatives wrote in a press release. “The Resolution also calls on the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to permit and expand the company a Basic International Telecommunications Services (BITS) license.”

“We know today our citizens require greater connectivity than 50/10 megabits per second,” the President of FONOM Danny Whalen said in a statement. “FONOM believes that the Starlink program is our best option.”

SpaceX says its service is capable of providing low-latency broadband internet below 30 milliseconds, and download speeds greater than 100 megabits per second.

FONOM discussed plans to work with other Canadian municipal organizations and government officials to bring Starlink internet service to 110 member communities in Ontario. “The FONOM executive will now be communicating with its partners to seek additional support for the Starlink program,” the federation announced on Thursday.