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SpaceX is expanding a trial of its Starlink satellite internet and could bring the service to other countries next year, says CEO Elon Musk.
The space exploration company will send out “several thousand more” invitations to customers this week for the so-called beta test of Starlink, which connects users to the Internet through a network of hundreds of satellites orbiting the Earth. Musk tweeted Monday.
In subsequent Twitter postsMusk said SpaceX will aim to bring the service to Europe and India next year after its initial launch in the US and Canada. The company will “probably” start receiving final approvals to connect users in European countries in February or March, with India “hopefully” following in mid-2021, according to its posts.
The billionaire tech titan didn’t say exactly how many people were already taking part in Starlink’s “Better Than Nothing Beta” test, which was reportedly launched last week. SpaceX said in August that “nearly 700,000 people” expressed interest in the service with the goal of providing high-speed connections to people in rural areas who have limited Internet access options.
SpaceX has promised data speeds ranging from 50 to 150 megabits per second, which are significantly slower than some traditional internet connections. But some early users in the state of Montana and Washington reported downloads as fast as 177 megabits per second, according to a Starlink forum on Reddit.
Starlink’s initial service costs $ 99 a month, plus $ 499 for the equipment needed to set up the connection, according to reports. Musk tweeted that reducing the cost of the so-called Starlink terminal, “which may sound a bit pedestrian, is actually our most difficult technical challenge.”
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