UK plans to deploy Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet for rural connectivity
The UK government says it will begin a trial programme of providing ultrafast internet to all homes across the country using Elon Musk’s Starlink technology in what appears to be its first test of web-linked satellites.
According to the announcement, the first Starlink satellites will be deployed to provide connectivity to a few specific isolated sites, including a 12th-century abbey in the North York Moors National Park, and rescue operations in the Lake District and Snowdonia National Park.
The UK government's decision to use Starlink instead of the British satellite broadband company OneWeb, which it rescued from bankruptcy in 2020, comes at a time when the U.S. government reportedly purchased more than 1,330 terminals from SpaceX, the company behind Starlink, to send to Ukraine at a cost of $3 million, according to Independent.
