Starlink : Markets and Marketing

[OceanCat]

A Nauru state-owned entity, Cenpac Coorporation, has signed an agreement to provide Starlink Community Gateway service.

The service is the first to be rolled out in the Pacific, following the agreement signing between Cenpac and Starlink on 19 August

Cenpac chairwoman Zikki Eoe said the service will further boost the already existing Starlink presence on island with reduced monthly payments.

Land at Command Ridge for the installation of the equipment is set to be finalised by October, with the launch expected to take place in November.

Nauru is a Pacific island country of about 12,000 people. The gateway which provides 10 Gbps most likely can service all the population initially thanks to lower data consumption relative to developed countries which use about 2 Mbps per person.

[Kiwi53]

Starlink is now on the USS Abraham Lincoln

https://www.twz.com/sea/starlink-now-being-deployed-on-u-s-navy-warships

FYI: Starlink has been installed on board of the USS Abraham Lincoln since 2022 (at that time it was being oficcially tested there)

I'd guess those antennas and any other Starlink 'dishies' on USN vessels may well be Starlink / Starshield dual use now.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1829027600901042471

Starlink now approved in 105 countries!

https://x.com/starlink/status/1828840132688130322

Starlink is now available in Botswana and Ghana!

Starlink is connecting people with high-speed internet in 105 markets all around the world, including 15 in Africa 🛰️🌍❤️ → https://starlink.com/map

[JayWee]

https://twitter.com/Megaconstellati/status/1829178209646379264

[IRobot]

This was not smart by the Brazilian judge.

Connecting Starlink with X has zero legal ground.

Now I wonder if this is just an excuse to disrupt Starlink. Brazil is a very corrupt country, and with a closed economy. Starlink threatens the existing telecom companies.

Either that or it´s an alignment with the current Putin-supportive government.

[novo2044]

This was not smart by the Brazilian judge.

Connecting Starlink with X has zero legal ground.

Now I wonder if this is just an excuse to disrupt Starlink. Brazil is a very corrupt country, and with a closed economy. Starlink threatens the existing telecom companies.

Either that or it´s an alignment with the current Putin-supportive government.

No, there are legal grounds.  In simplified terms, he is claiming coordination between X and SpaceX using laws that were previously used to target cartels and illegal business collusion.  Now, you might say that sounds like BS, and you'd have a point, but generally speaking, the judiciary is who determines what these laws mean and how they apply.  This isn't touching on why X feels the censorship requests are illegal in the first place, that's an entirely different can of worms and this isn't really the best place to discuss them.

The military is apparently not happy with this turmoil because they use it for a number of critical functions.  Brazil is large, and many remote areas use Starlink, especially for critical infrastructure like hospitals, law enforcement, etc.  But there is at least token legal cover for the government's actions and they have their political divides just like, well, every country on earth.  The current Brazilian and US governments are giving their tacit approval for reasons I'll leave up to the reader. 

Starlink was always bound to run into these issues, and it will probably become an even bigger headache once DTC is online and you don't need a dish to access the global internet.  This is also why the political landscape in each country and the US is significant for this project.  Honestly politics is a much bigger hurdle than anything technical at this point

[launchwatcher]

The military is apparently not happy with this turmoil because they use it for a number of critical functions.  Brazil is large, and many remote areas use Starlink, especially for critical infrastructure like hospitals, law enforcement, etc. 

Musk has has announced that Starlink services in Brazil will continue operating:

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1829317832489816083

Many remote schools and hospitals depend on SpaceX’s Starlink!

SpaceX will provide Internet service to users in Brazil for free until this matter is resolved, as we cannot receive payment, but don’t want to cut anyone off.

[DistantTemple]

ISP's in Brazil are required to block X (within 24 hours - or the end of the weekend - ish)
SpaceX/Starlink is an ISP - if I understand it correctly.
Therefore SpaceX will be required to block "X" in Brazil !!!!!!

[Edit] Failure to abide by Brazilian law, and any jeopardy of connectivity through Starlink that results could give other nations second thoughts about their reliance on Starlink [/EDIT] 

am I missing something?

P.S. Related to the freezing of SX accounts: If it is Elon that is being sanctioned, then any of his assets that Brazil can control are fair game! Is it Elon or "X" that is being sanctioned?

[RedLineTrain]

ISP's in Brazil are required to block X (within 24 hours - or the end of the weekend - ish)
SpaceX/Starlink is an ISP - if I understand it correctly.
Therefore SpaceX will be required to block "X" in Brazil !!!!!!

Failure to abide by Brazilian law, and any jeopardy of connectivity through Starlink that results could give other nations second thoughts about their reliance on Starlink

 

am I missing something?

P.S. Related to the freezing of SX accounts: If it is Elon that is being sanctioned, then any of his assets that Brazil can control are fair game! Is it Elon or "X" that is being sanctioned?

I think the argument is that SpaceX and X are related in that they are both controlled by Elon Musk.  While Musk has a ~40% ownership of SpaceX, he has ~80% control.  He has 75% ownership and at least that amount of control over X.

Moving fast, but the latest news is that Starlink has refused to block X unless and until its bank accounts are unfrozen (and, I assume, the legal process that resulted in the freeze is reversed).  This puts Starlink's licenses in jeopardy, but there might be reasons why de Moraes would hesitate to revoke the licenses.

Starlink informs Anatel that it will not comply with Moraes' decision to block X in Brazil

The satellite internet company and X belong to Elon Musk, who has been attacking Moraes' decisions to block profiles

https://twitter.com/otempo/status/1830577661816549413

[Asteroza]

Conversely, will this cause congestion for Brazilian users as people congregate around Starlink powered wifi to access X, at least for urban-ish Starlink home routers?


Seems a little early for carnival in Brazil, what with all the fist shaking at the sky...

[RedLineTrain]

Conversely, will this cause congestion for Brazilian users as people congregate around Starlink powered wifi to access X, at least for urban-ish Starlink home routers?

Seems a little early for carnival in Brazil, what with all the fist shaking at the sky...

From what I have been able to gather, the blocking of X by other ISPs has been very imperfect, at least when accessed through the web.  And businesses often go through a VPN as a matter of course to toughen their security.  So perhaps people feel no need as of yet to congregate around Starlink-powered wifi.

[RedLineTrain]

You know that you have "product market fit" when Navy senior enlisted will risk demotion and pay $1,000 a month to enjoy sweet, sweet wifi goodness while underway. 

How Navy chiefs conspired to get themselves illegal warship Wi-Fi
...But the senior enlisted leaders among the littoral combat ship Manchester’s gold crew knew no such privation last year, when they installed and secretly used their very own Wi-Fi network during a deployment, according to a scathing internal investigation obtained by Navy Times.

As the ship prepared for a West Pacific deployment in April 2023, the enlisted leader onboard conspired with the ship’s chiefs to install the secret, unauthorized network aboard the ship, for use exclusively by them.

So while rank-and-file sailors lived without the level of internet connectivity they enjoyed ashore, the chiefs installed a Starlink satellite internet dish on the top of the ship and used a Wi-Fi network they dubbed “STINKY” to check sports scores, text home and stream movies.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2024/09/03/how-navy-chiefs-conspired-to-get-themselves-illegal-warship-wi-fi/

[abaddon]

Elon Musk’s Starlink says it will block X in Brazil to keep satellite internet active: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elon-musk-starlink-will-block-x-brazil-rcna169454

[novo2044]

You know that you have "product market fit" when Navy senior enlisted will risk demotion and pay $1,000 a month to enjoy sweet, sweet wifi goodness while underway. 

How Navy chiefs conspired to get themselves illegal warship Wi-Fi
...But the senior enlisted leaders among the littoral combat ship Manchester’s gold crew knew no such privation last year, when they installed and secretly used their very own Wi-Fi network during a deployment, according to a scathing internal investigation obtained by Navy Times.

As the ship prepared for a West Pacific deployment in April 2023, the enlisted leader onboard conspired with the ship’s chiefs to install the secret, unauthorized network aboard the ship, for use exclusively by them.

So while rank-and-file sailors lived without the level of internet connectivity they enjoyed ashore, the chiefs installed a Starlink satellite internet dish on the top of the ship and used a Wi-Fi network they dubbed “STINKY” to check sports scores, text home and stream movies.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2024/09/03/how-navy-chiefs-conspired-to-get-themselves-illegal-warship-wi-fi/

This story is completely insane for several reasons.  Using unrestricted COTS internet on a Navy vessel underway is sort of crazy by itself, but it's sort of understandable.  Anyone who has a smartphone knows the pain of losing internet access for hours, never mind weeks.  But some of the wackier details:

The chiefs kept it secret from both the enlisted and the CO
The enlisted knew something was up and sent multiple comments to the CO
They removed comments from the comment box to keep it a secret.
The not only mounted a dish they setup repeaters to cover the whole ship! 
The ringleader was manually entering passwords to people's devices to keep it exclusive
They broadcast the SSID in the clear apparently!  Then changed it to a wireless printer name

I wouldn't be surprised at all if this has happened on other ships.  Large shipping companies, O&G, etc has already shown good bandwidth at sea is a huge morale boost and recruiting tool.  This is was obviously crazy, but it also suggests the Navy should aim for a secure, filtered solution ASAP.  Honestly that seems doable now

[Mandella]

You know that you have "product market fit" when Navy senior enlisted will risk demotion and pay $1,000 a month to enjoy sweet, sweet wifi goodness while underway. 

How Navy chiefs conspired to get themselves illegal warship Wi-Fi
...But the senior enlisted leaders among the littoral combat ship Manchester’s gold crew knew no such privation last year, when they installed and secretly used their very own Wi-Fi network during a deployment, according to a scathing internal investigation obtained by Navy Times.

As the ship prepared for a West Pacific deployment in April 2023, the enlisted leader onboard conspired with the ship’s chiefs to install the secret, unauthorized network aboard the ship, for use exclusively by them.

So while rank-and-file sailors lived without the level of internet connectivity they enjoyed ashore, the chiefs installed a Starlink satellite internet dish on the top of the ship and used a Wi-Fi network they dubbed “STINKY” to check sports scores, text home and stream movies.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2024/09/03/how-navy-chiefs-conspired-to-get-themselves-illegal-warship-wi-fi/

It should be pointed out that STINKY is the default network identifier for Starlink.

The more you know....

[Asteroza]

You know that you have "product market fit" when Navy senior enlisted will risk demotion and pay $1,000 a month to enjoy sweet, sweet wifi goodness while underway. 

How Navy chiefs conspired to get themselves illegal warship Wi-Fi
...But the senior enlisted leaders among the littoral combat ship Manchester’s gold crew knew no such privation last year, when they installed and secretly used their very own Wi-Fi network during a deployment, according to a scathing internal investigation obtained by Navy Times.

As the ship prepared for a West Pacific deployment in April 2023, the enlisted leader onboard conspired with the ship’s chiefs to install the secret, unauthorized network aboard the ship, for use exclusively by them.

So while rank-and-file sailors lived without the level of internet connectivity they enjoyed ashore, the chiefs installed a Starlink satellite internet dish on the top of the ship and used a Wi-Fi network they dubbed “STINKY” to check sports scores, text home and stream movies.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2024/09/03/how-navy-chiefs-conspired-to-get-themselves-illegal-warship-wi-fi/

Which is contrasted with this story about how the US Navy wants to roll Starlink out to all ships.

https://www.wired.com/story/us-navy-starlink-sea2/


I mean, I understand the security aspects, but US military forces facing recruitment/retention issues will end up with something (Starlink, or a mix of stuff like Kuiper).

[Rebel44]

You know that you have "product market fit" when Navy senior enlisted will risk demotion and pay $1,000 a month to enjoy sweet, sweet wifi goodness while underway. 

How Navy chiefs conspired to get themselves illegal warship Wi-Fi
...But the senior enlisted leaders among the littoral combat ship Manchester’s gold crew knew no such privation last year, when they installed and secretly used their very own Wi-Fi network during a deployment, according to a scathing internal investigation obtained by Navy Times.

As the ship prepared for a West Pacific deployment in April 2023, the enlisted leader onboard conspired with the ship’s chiefs to install the secret, unauthorized network aboard the ship, for use exclusively by them.

So while rank-and-file sailors lived without the level of internet connectivity they enjoyed ashore, the chiefs installed a Starlink satellite internet dish on the top of the ship and used a Wi-Fi network they dubbed “STINKY” to check sports scores, text home and stream movies.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2024/09/03/how-navy-chiefs-conspired-to-get-themselves-illegal-warship-wi-fi/

This story is completely insane for several reasons.  Using unrestricted COTS internet on a Navy vessel underway is sort of crazy by itself, but it's sort of understandable.  Anyone who has a smartphone knows the pain of losing internet access for hours, never mind weeks.  But some of the wackier details:

The chiefs kept it secret from both the enlisted and the CO
The enlisted knew something was up and sent multiple comments to the CO
They removed comments from the comment box to keep it a secret.
The not only mounted a dish they setup repeaters to cover the whole ship! 
The ringleader was manually entering passwords to people's devices to keep it exclusive
They broadcast the SSID in the clear apparently!  Then changed it to a wireless printer name

I wouldn't be surprised at all if this has happened on other ships.  Large shipping companies, O&G, etc has already shown good bandwidth at sea is a huge morale boost and recruiting tool.  This is was obviously crazy, but it also suggests the Navy should aim for a secure, filtered solution ASAP.  Honestly that seems doable now

It is also funny that the unauthorized Starlink terminal was discovered during the official installation of Starshield (military variant of Starlink) terminal.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/starlink/status/1832392080481563037

Starlink’s high-speed, low-latency internet is now available in Zimbabwe! 🛰️🇿🇼❤️ → https://starlink.com/zw/map

[RedLineTrain]

Starlink’s high-speed, low-latency internet is now available in Zimbabwe! 🛰️🇿🇼❤️ → https://starlink.com/zw/map

Interesting.  The terminals and service are available directly from Starlink.  I wonder how they skirted the issue of a designated sole distributor.