Can Provide Global Coverage by September - Starlink

Starlink President Gwynne Shotwel said on Tuesday that the satellite internet unit of SpaceX will provide continuous global coverage by around September. However, it will have to seek regulatory approvals by then, she added.

Starlink Global Network Almost Ready

Shotwel told a Macquarie Group technology conference via webcast, "we've successfully deployed 1,800 or so satellites and once all those satellites reach their operational orbit, we will have continuous global coverage, so that should be like September timeframe".

She added, "but then we have regulatory work to go into every country and get approved to provide telecoms services".

The satcom operator has plans to deploy 12,000 satellites in total. The total constellation will cost roughly $10 billion. Starlink is already providing beta services in 11 countries, Shotwel said.

Last month, Musk said the company had received more than 500,000 preorders for its service. He also said that he does not anticipate any technical problems to meet the demand. Starlink has also started preorders in India at ₹7,500. Also, the company has a commercial launch planned for June 2022 in the country.

The US FCC earlier this year approved SpaceX's plan to deploy some Starlink satellites at a lower earth orbit than planned. This move will allow the network operator to provide high-speed broadband to people who currently lack access.

Starlink is only one of a growing number of satcom players in the world. This growing list includes includes Amazon's Kuiper, Britain-Bharti backed OneWeb, venture capital-backed Planet, and Raytheon Technologies Corp's Blue Canyon Technologies.

In India, Starlink, OneWeb, Project Kuiper and Viasat are already looking to acquire telecom license to provide satcom. OneWeb is leading the pack currently, as the Bharti-backed operator has already submitted application for licence.