Elon Musk’s Starlink service has achieved a new milestone as it claims to have more than 1,000,000 active subscribers. This is a satellite broadband service under SpaceX which promises to offer high-speed and low-latency internet around the world. It’s seen as an alternative option for people residing in areas that don’t have access to mobile and fibre connectivity.
Starlink now has more than 1,000,000 active subscribers – thank you to all customers and members of the Starlink team who contributed to this milestone ❤️💫🌎 https://t.co/5suNxFvtEH pic.twitter.com/E1ojYarcEA
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 19, 2022
Since its launch in late 2020, Starlink is currently available in over 40 countries, mostly in Americas, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The Philippines is expected to be the first Southeast Asian country to launch Starlink and it has received approval from the National Telecommunications Commission, an agency of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
Originally scheduled to launch in Q4 2022, the Starlink Philippines launch appears to be delayed until the middle of 2023. It was reported that Starlink is working on launching more satellites for the region and it aims to have full coverage for the Philippines sometime next year.
Starlink promises to offer broadband speeds of up to 200Mbps and boasts latency as low as 20ms. Typically, broadband from geostationary (GEO) satellites has a higher ping of 500ms due to the distance of over 35,000km between the satellite and earth. However, Starlink is able to have lower latency as it uses low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellites which are much closer at about 550km from earth.
While Starlink is great for underserved and unserved communities, don’t expect it to be cheap. SpaceX’s Senior Manager for Government Affairs, Rebecca Hunter said the equipment will cost USD599 (about RM2,654). Starlink’s monthly subscription has recently increased to USD110 (about RM487) and it comes with uncapped data limits.
Starlink has listed on its website that its service will be available in Malaysia in Q1 2023 and it has started accepting USD 99 deposits from Malaysian residents. However, Starlink isn’t registered as a Network Facility or Service Provider license (NFP/NSP) holder under the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). Starlink would require a licence before it is permitted to provide commercial satellite broadband services to Malaysians.
Former Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Azmin Ali visited SpaceX in May this year and said he is looking forward to welcoming SpaceX and Starlink to Malaysia to offer their satellite internet service. At the time, he said there are several matters that were still being considered by the government on Starlink’s policy-related proposals in order to introduce the service locally.
In Malaysia, the main satellite provider is MEASAT and they are providing satellite broadband services with 100% nationwide coverage through ConnectMe. It currently offers 60GB of data for RM198/month and 100GB of data for RM298/month. For rural communities without 4G and fibre, they are offering ConnectMe now service which offers satellite-based WiFi connection on a prepaid model with zero upfront cost. The MEASAT satellite broadband service currently offers speeds of up to 25Mbps and eventually, it can offer up to 100Mbps downloads via Ka-band once its broadband services are migrated to its new MEASAT-3d satellite.
[ SOURCE, IMAGE SOURCE ]
Related reading
- Azmin Ali welcomes Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service in Malaysia, negotiations are underway
- Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service to cover Malaysia in 2023 but should you place a USD 99 deposit today?
- SpaceX’s Starlink is almost as good as fixed broadband according to Speedtest
- Here’s why you shouldn’t sign up for Starlink satellite broadband in Malaysia just yet
