Starlink

June 3, 2025 3:17 PM

Astronomers fear impact of Musk’s Starlink on South Africa mega-telescope observations

Astronomers working with South Africa's SKA telescope are pushing authorities to ensure that any licensing agreement with Elon Musk's Starlink will protect their groundbreaking observations, a senior scientist said. Discussions to bring Musk's internet service Starlink in South Africa have already been contentious, with parent company SpaceX criticising local shareholding laws while backing equity equivalent programmes. Attaching astronomy-linked licensing conditions may fur...

March 11, 2025 6:25 PM

Airtel partners with Musk’s SpaceX to bring Starlink’s high-speed internet to India

Telecom major Airtel on Tuesday said it has signed an agreement with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring Starlink’s high-speed internet services to its customers in India. This is the first agreement to be signed in India, which is subject to SpaceX receiving authorisations to sell Starlink in the country. Airtel and SpaceX will explore offering Starlink equipment in Airtel’s retail stores, Starlink services via Airtel to business customers, opportunities to connect communities, schools, and hea...

February 24, 2025 11:04 AM

Musk’s Starlink races with Chinese rivals to dominate satellite internet

Space is about to get more crowded for Elon Musk. The billionaire's Starlink communications network is facing increasingly stiff challenges to its dominance of high-speed satellite internet, including from a Chinese state-backed rival and another service financed by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. Shanghai-based SpaceSail in November signed an agreement to enter Brazil and announced it was in talks with over 30 countries. Two months later, it began work in Kazakhstan, according to the Kazakh emb...

January 24, 2025 3:04 PM

Italian deal with Starlink would not be security risk, space agency says

A possible deal between Italy and Elon Musk's Starlink for secure satellite communications would not pose a security risk, the head of national space agency ASI said on Thursday. Rome is considering using Musk's telecommunications systems to provide encrypted communications between the government, embassies and defence officials operating in high-risk geographical areas. Opposition parties have criticised the project, questioning whether the handling of such communications should be entrusted ...

November 12, 2024 4:37 PM

Musk’s Starlink gets Chad go-ahead to improve internet access

Chad said on Tuesday it had approved the licensing of Elon Musk's satellite internet provider Starlink to improve access to internet services in the central African country. Starlink, the satellite unit of SpaceX, operates in several African countries but has faced regulatory challenges in others and resistance from state telecoms monopolies. "We have been talking to Starlink since 2021 and we have managed to agree on the essentials," Chad's Communications Minister Boukar Michel told Reuters b...

September 16, 2024 6:36 PM

Reliance’s Jio Platforms clears hurdle in bid to launch satellite internet in India

A joint venture between Reliance Industries' Jio Platforms and Luxembourg-based SES to provide gigabit fibre internet has won approval from the Indian space regulator to operate satellites there, a government executive said. The three approvals issued to Orbit Connect India - which aims to provide satellite-based high-speed internet access - come as companies from Amazon to Elon Musk's Starlink have been vying for the go-ahead to launch satellite communication services in the world's most popul...

May 11, 2024 5:35 PM

Musk’s Starlink satellites disrupted by major solar storm

Starlink, the satellite arm of Elon Musk's SpaceX, warned on Saturday of a "degraded service" as the Earth is battered by the biggest geomagnetic storm due to solar activity in two decades. Starlink owns around 60% of the roughly 7,500 satellites orbiting Earth and is a dominant player in satellite internet. Musk said earlier in a post on X that Starlink satellites were under a lot of pressure due to the geomagnetic storm, but were holding up so far. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric ...