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SpaceX founder Elon Musk recently shared that the company is already providing Starlink Beta broadband internet service to over 69,420 users globally out of over half-a-million customers who pre-ordered the internet service via Starlink.com. According to SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, the Starlink constellation is currently actively beaming its signal to users in 11 countries (now 12), including portions of the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, France, Austria, Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand. More European countries and regions in the United States will have coverage during the second half of 2021 and early 2022.
This week, SpaceX e-mailed potential customers in the European country of Denmark –“Starlink is now available in limited supply in Denmark!” the e-mail reads. “Users can expect to see data speeds vary from 50Mb/s to 150Mb/s [megabits per second] over the next several months as we enhance the Starlink system. There will also be brief periods of no connectivity at all,” SpaceX wrote in the e-mail. “As we launch more satellites, install more ground stations and improve our networking software, data speed, latency and uptime will improve dramatically.” To date, SpaceX has launched approximately 1,740 internet-beaming Starlink satellites out of over 12,000 that will be part of the global broadband constellation.
“To check availability for your location, visit starlink.com and re-enter your service address. If Starlink is not yet available in your area, you can place a deposit to hold your space in line for future service,” they added. To connect to the Starlink network, users must purchase a Starlink Kit that costs $499 USD, the monthly internet fee is $99 USD. Shotwell shared that Starlink could provide global broadband coverage by September this year. “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. “But then we have regulatory work to go into every country and get approved to provide telecoms services.”
h/t @news_starship via Twitter
#Starlink email just ticked in: now with availability in Denmark 🇩🇰 pic.twitter.com/6VzsaeFRpz
— Morten Grove, Captain of all Tesla-Ships 🚢 (@mortenlund89) July 1, 2021
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About the Author
Evelyn Arevalo
Evelyn J. Arevalo joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover news as a Space Journalist and SpaceX Starbase Texas Correspondent. Evelyn is specialized in rocketry and space exploration. The main topics she covers are SpaceX and NASA.
