Billionaire and Tesla boss Elon Musk expects to offer widescreen internet all over the world with his Starlink satellite network soon, except in the polar regions. Musk said in a video call that aired at Mobile World Congress in the Barcelona will undoubtedly be a matter of weeks.
By engaging thousands of satellites around the earth, Starlink also wants to offer broadband internet in remote areas where, for example, no fibre optic networks are located. The company already has more than 1,500 satellites in orbit, which are sent into space in sets of 60 – leading to impressive images of lines of satellites in the sky. Starlink already offers internet in more than ten countries and previously has almost 70,000 users.
A lot of money is involved. Musk estimates the total investment cost over several years to be between $20 billion and $30 billion. Experts have previously indicated that it will probably take years before the company, which is part of Musk’s space company SpaceX, can make real money.
Starlink desires to be able to compete on price with providers of wired internet connections, but its relics to be seen whether this will succeed. Amazon and Facebook are also working on internet satellites, while Apple previously announced that it wanted to use satellites for the internet.
