Elon Musk's Starlink Will Improve Internet In Remote Areas Of UK

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Elon Musk's Starlink Will Improve Internet In Remote Areas Of UK
03 Dec 2022
min read

News Synopsis

A  United Kingdom UK trial will use Elon Musk's satellites to deliver high-speed internet to far-flung households and companies.

The improved connectivity package, which uses his Starlink technology, is a part of the government's ambitions to ensure that everyone has access to reliable coverage.

It will evaluate the effectiveness of using more than 3,000 small satellites in low-Earth orbit to assist more than a dozen "very hard to reach" places.

Three remote places will be at the first trial of the rollout.

These are Wasdale Head in the Lake District, the 12th-century Rievaulx Abbey in North York Moors National Park, and inside Snowdonia National Park. The government will evaluate the technology's viability after the trials.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport reported that recent testing has shown that Starlink satellites can deliver internet speeds of up to 200 megabits per second in many regions, which is four times faster than the current UK average of just over 50Mbps.

Satellites, according to Digital Secretary Michelle Donelan, are "crucial" to the government Levelling Up program and might "be the answer" to connecting remote areas.

She said, "These trials aim to find a solution to the prohibitively high cost of rolling out cables to far-flung locations," 

When copper cables cannot be used to connect remote locations to high-speed internet, broadband signals transmitted by relatively low-flying satellites can be a viable option.

For instance, the Starlink service has been made available for free in some areas of Ukraine to help in maintaining connectivity there following Russia's invasion. Despite the project incurring losses, Mr. Musk committed to continuing to support it.

He tweeted, "Even though Starlink is still losing money and other companies are getting billions of taxpayer dollars, we'll just keep funding Ukraine government for free," For the military and people of Ukraine to remain online, Starlink has been vital.

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