Starlink reports 200k Australian users
March 7, 2024
By Chris Forrester
SpaceX’s Starlink broadband by satellite service is now connecting more than 200,000 customers and counting across Australia, says the Elon Musk-owned business.
The news prompted a slew of comments on X from India, where potential subscribers are waiting for the service to be granted permission to operate.
Starlink’s numbers – as at December 31st 2023 – were stated to have reached “more than” 2.2 million, of which more than 1.3 million are in the US. Starlink says it is producing “tens of thousands of terminals each week”.
In September 2023, satellite operator SES announced a satellite internet service for cruise lines using both the Starlink satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and SES’ own O3b mPOWER satellite constellation in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). Integrated, sold and delivered by SES, the SES Cruise mPOWERED + Starlink service claims to combine the best features of LEO and MEO orbits to provide high-speed, secure connectivity at up to 3Gbps per ship, to cruise ships anywhere in the world. In February 2024, SES announced that Virgin Voyages will be the first cruise line to deploy the service.