SpaceX is preparing to offer commercial customers a new service based on its Starlink satellite network, providing ultra-fast Internet with download speeds of up to 8 Gbps, even in remote areas without terrestrial infrastructure.
Image source: starlink.com
The other day, SpaceX Vice President of Starlink Engineering Michael Nicolls tweeted the results of a speed test from Jacksonville (a city in the USA), which showed that Starlink is capable of providing high data transfer speeds of up to 8102 Mbps using mobile technology gateway.
Image source: Michael Nicolls/x.com
According to PCMag, the new service appears to be an expansion of SpaceX’s “public base station” business, which was announced back in January. The company currently offers users a Starlink satellite dish that provides speeds ranging from 50 Mbps to 300 Mbps. However, for commercial customers such as Internet service providers, SpaceX will begin building base stations using mobile gateway technology, equipped with large antennas that can provide broadband Internet to remote areas that do not have access to fiber networks.
The first such station has already been built in the city of Unalaska on an island near Alaska, which is currently successfully providing local residents with fast Internet through a local provider. The Unalaska station is ground-based, but SpaceX also plans to bring mobile gateway technology to military ships and aircraft.
For the creation of such stations, SpaceX will charge companies a fee of $1.25 million, and monthly payments will range from $75,000 depending on the traffic consumed.