Starlink : Markets and Marketing

[RedLineTrain]

Kazakhstan is receiving a couple thousand terminals for its schools.  500 already received, with the rest expected within 3 weeks.  The linked article has a good picture of stacks of Starlink terminals received.

https://daryo.uz/en/2024/02/25/kazakhstan-receives-first-batch-of-500-sets-of-starlink-equipment-for-rural-schools

[RedLineTrain]

Argentina's new president Milei decreed landing rights for Starlink, OneWeb, and Kuiper.  This should be a solid region for Starlink, despite the relative weakness of the Argentine economy.  Argentina's public TV gives a breakdown of what it means, assuming a $60 service price.

[RedLineTrain]

It looks like SpaceX has a big presence at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.  They are showcasing their Direct-to-Cell offering, but also taking the opportunity to meet people they normally would not have a chance to meet.  For instance, here is a news item from Niger's public TV station about Starlink meeting Niger's minister of digital economy at the Starlink booth.  The news report shows a February 2 letter from him to Starlink inviting it to apply for a license.

https://twitter.com/XKunmit/status/1762375262136574353

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/starlink/status/1763427037782720980

Starlink’s high-speed internet is now available in Mongolia 🛰️ 🇲🇳 → starlink.com/map?country=MN

[RedLineTrain]

Starlink’s high-speed internet is now available in Mongolia 🛰️ 🇲🇳 → starlink.com/map?country=MN

Residential service is going for $55/month.

[Galactic Penguin SST]

They hit a snag in Vietnam: despite even the coast guard is trialing it, they aren't getting the exempt for the <50% foreign stake rule for telecommunication companies.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/spacexs-talks-with-vietnam-over-starlink-hold-sources-say-2024-02-29/

[cpushack]

They hit a snag in Vietnam: despite even the coast guard is trialing it, they aren't getting the exempt for the <50% foreign stake rule for telecommunication companies.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/spacexs-talks-with-vietnam-over-starlink-hold-sources-say-2024-02-29/

This is likely why they had the Coast Guard trial it, probably hoping that its usefulness would sway things, which may still happen eventually, when the Coast Guard loses access to a tech that they likely found very useful.

[catdlr]

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1764032892663906313

SpaceX just achieved peak download speed of 17Mb/s from satellite direct to unmodified Samsung Android phone

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/starlink/status/1765158872904560802

Starlink is now connecting more than 200K customers and counting across Australia! Thank you to all of our customers across the continent 🛰️🇦🇺❤️

Whether you’re at home or on the go, staying connected with high-speed internet is now possible even in the most remote locations on Earth → starlink.com/au

[RedLineTrain]

I have been curious about why service is not offered in Greenland.  It is the only Northern country from the West besides the Faroe Islands where it is not offered.  Here is an article from March 6 that goes into some depth about the situation.  In short, internet is provided by a government monopoly with a universal service requirement.  Hispasat offers some backhaul from GEO.

https://polarjournal.ch/en/2024/03/06/elon-musks-starlink-is-disrupting-greenlands-expensive-internet-market/

[DanClemmensen]

I have been curious about why service is not offered in Greenland.  It is the only Western arctic country where it is not offered.  Here is an article from March 6 that goes into some depth about the situation.  In short, internet is provided by a government monopoly with a universal service requirement.  Hispasat offers some backhaul from GEO.

https://polarjournal.ch/en/2024/03/06/elon-musks-starlink-is-disrupting-greenlands-expensive-internet-market/

The population of Greenland is less than 60,000, or less than a medium-sized town:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland
Negotiating with its government is like negotiating with your city council. They can afford to be flexible and tactical.

[RedLineTrain]

SpaceX is testing lower price points in Europe for deprioritized service, which appears to be about 50-100 Mbps down.  29 Euros/month.

https://twitter.com/lucagrecoita/status/1767287945365496274

[OceanCat]

Elcome is planning to introduce pay-as-you-go $1.89 per gigabyte plan for crew and passengers via Starlink. Available across their maritime clients who agree to provide the service via their wi-fi. Elcome is also teasing "exciting partnerships with content and service providers."

https://welcome.online/

https://twitter.com/jimmyg/status/1767824127472042481

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/starlink/status/1768330178156204420

Reliable high-speed, low-latency internet around the world—even while traveling at 27,000 km/h through a plasma field 🛰️🚀

[abaddon]

https://twitter.com/starlink/status/1768330178156204420

Reliable high-speed, low-latency internet around the world—even while traveling at 27,000 km/h through a plasma field 🛰️🚀

World's most expensive advertisement... ever?  I kid, I kid...

[RedLineTrain]

Some interesting data from Africa.  In less than six months, Starlink uptake has led to more than doubling of the number of people in Kenya who use satellite internet.

Fresh data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows that satellite internet users rose from 1,354 in the three months to September last year, to 2,933 in the quarter ended December.

This was after Starlink launched its services in Kenya in July, reflecting a rise in uptake of the service that has traditionally been a preserve of large corporates and niche users.

While experts had expressed doubts over its success given the high initial and subscription fees it charges, Starlink appears to have proved them wrong given the enthusiastic reception.

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/business/starlink-doubles-satellite-internet-uptake-in-kenya-4557216

[RedLineTrain]

Africa has been experiencing internet outages due to fiber cables being cut on the floor of the Red Sea.  The vulnerability of these fiber cables is a big issue worldwide, which seems likely to drive Starlink licensing and adoption, at least as a partial backup.  I note that the Azure (Microsoft) cloud suffered downtime.  Microsoft is a Starlink partner.

With combined E-band, V-band, and Ka-band licensed gateways, Starlink might be able to deliver a meaningful amount of bandwidth.

https://blog.cloudflare.com/undersea-cable-failures-cause-internet-disruptions-across-africa-march-14-2024

Starlink still works.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1768542268695142479

Africa Submarine Cable Situation Report - 14/3/24
Situation is Very bad.
East Coast of Africa to Europe
Seacom/TGN - Cut
AAE1 - Cut
EIG - Cut
All cut in Red Sea
West Coast of Africa to Europe
WACS - Fault
Mainone - Down
ACE - Fault
SAT3-Down
Faults near Abidjan

https://twitter.com/benliquidkenya/status/1768254440300069172

[RAN]

Exclusive: Musk's SpaceX is building spy satellite network for US intelligence agency, sources say

https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/musks-spacex-is-building-spy-satellite-network-us-intelligence-agency-sources-2024-03-16/

The contract with the NRO is valued at $1.8 billion for space based imaging capabilities.

[Zed_Noir]

Exclusive: Musk's SpaceX is building spy satellite network for US intelligence agency, sources say

https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/musks-spacex-is-building-spy-satellite-network-us-intelligence-agency-sources-2024-03-16/

The contract with the NRO is valued at $1.8 billion for space based imaging capabilities.

The Starshield network should properly be called Skynet.

Also it is likely that some of the Starlink comsats that has been deployed are really assets of the NRO. Likely some of them were modified for ground surveillance.

It turns out that Starlink is much more profitable that expected. Since no one expected a $1.8B NRO contract in 2021. There should be other follow on contracts for similar services from other Alphabet agencies. Would such contracts shows up in SpaceX's financial statements?

[DanClemmensen]

Exclusive: Musk's SpaceX is building spy satellite network for US intelligence agency, sources say

https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/musks-spacex-is-building-spy-satellite-network-us-intelligence-agency-sources-2024-03-16/

The contract with the NRO is valued at $1.8 billion for space based imaging capabilities.

The Starshield network should properly be called Skynet.

Also it is likely that some of the Starlink comsats that has been deployed are really assets of the NRO. Likely some of them were modified for ground surveillance.

It turns out that Starlink is much more profitable that expected. Since no one expected a $1.8B NRO contract in 2021. There should be other follow on contracts for similar services from other Alphabet agencies. Would such contracts shows up in SpaceX's financial statements?

If I were the architect, the Starshield satellties would be in-orbit nodes of the Starlink ISL network. They would not need any Starlink RF links, either user-side or Teleport-side. This frees the entire nadir deck of the satellite for use for Earth-facing cameras and other sensors. It also means Starshield would not need separate teleports. Security is of course a very serious problem but is solved by end-to-end encryption from the Starshield satellites all the way to the NRO data centers. I would add additional terrestrial fiber links from the Starlink terrestrial net to the NRO data centers, and Starshield ISL traffic would route via ISL only to trusted set of Starlink teleports in the US.

With no Starlink RF, the satellites might be so different from Starlink satellites that using the Starlink bus is not cost-effective. This depends very strongly on the exact nature of NRO's Starshield sensor suite, and I do not care to speculate.