Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX has announced that its satellite Internet service “Starlink” now covers four continents and is available in 32 countries.
Whatās more important, the company is constantly developing. So in the near future, this picture will look much more attractive. For this goal, SpaceX is doing its best to attract as many subscribers as possible. All new subscribers who order new terminals will get them immediately. As a reminder, customers previously had to wait several months to receive the relevant equipment.
WhereĀ IsĀ Starlink Available?
SpaceX shared a screenshot on Twitter showing the overall coverage of the service. As we can see, Starlink service is available in Europe, most of North America, South America, and parts of Australia and New Zealand. The company is also actively working on capturing more markets. In effect, Starlink is going to enter the entire African continent by 2023.
Starlink is now available in 32 countries around the world. People ordering from areas marked āavailableā will have their Starlink shipped immediately ā https://t.co/slZbTmHdml pic.twitter.com/CecM1pkf5D
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 13, 2022
SpaceX’s map shows areas marked “available” (light blue), “waiting list” (medium blue), and “coming soon” (dark blue). The service may have full coverage in areas below 60 degrees north latitude. But availability is granted on a country-by-country basis.
Gizchina News of the week
The number of countries where Starlink Internet services are available has increased by 7 compared to 25 countries earlier this year. In April of this year, we learned that most Starlink users are in North America. However, there are millions of users from Australia, New Zealand, and Europe.
Some Data
SpaceX is primarily targeting remote areas that cannot be networked by other means. As of the fourth quarter of 2021, the company’s average download speed in the United States was 104.97Mbps and its upload speed was 12.04Mbps. This is almost identical to the fixed network speed in the United States. In theory, network speeds will continue to increase as SpaceX adds more satellites and ground stations. We should also mention that latency is slower than fixed broadband (40ms vs 14ms). But in comparison to other satellite options such as HughesNet and Viasat, itās much better (729ms and 627ms, respectively).
In terms of pricing, some think itās an affordable service, while others do not think itās competitive. In March, the company increased prices for its plans. For instance, the new Starlink order starter kit is available for $599 upfront, which includes a satellite dish, stand, power supply, and WiFi router. The monthly fee for internet service is $110, up from $99 previously. Users can now also add a portability feature that lets them carry the kit while traveling for an additional $25 per month.
