Starlink apologises for delays
November 24, 2021
By Chris Forrester
Elon Musk’s Starlink broadband-by-satellite system is running behind on supplying systems to potential subscribers. Starlink, on November 23rd, sent an apologetic email to clients still waiting for their satellite equipment.
The email said more than 14 million people had enquired about a Starlink system and it was now available in more than 20 countries and it was looking to add another at least 45 more countries by the end of 2022.
However, Starlink said that silicon shortages over the last six months have slowed its expected production rate and impacted its ability to fulfil many Starlink orders this year.
“We apologise for the delay and are working hard across our engineering, supply chain, and production teams to improve and streamline our product and factory to increase our production rate,” said the email.
“Since our October 2020 launch in the US we have expanded our service to 20 additional countries: Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Austria, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal, Chile, Poland, Italy, Czech Republic, Mexico, Sweden, and Croatia. Pending regulatory approval, we are planning to launch in an additional 45+ new countries by the end of 2022,” said Starlink.
“We recently completed our 31st Starlink launch with our latest generation of satellites that are equipped with inter-satellite laser links, which enable our satellites to transfer data between each other. Once fully deployed, inter-satellite laser links will make Starlink one of the fastest options available to transfer data around the world,” the company added.