Elon Musk to bring high-speed wireless internet to boats

Starlink is officially a service provided by Musk’s SpaceX, a privately owned version of NASA that also plans to launch recreational flights into space so that paying customers can orbit Earth.

SpaceX is building a network of tens of thousands of low-orbit satellites that will form the backbone of the Starlink system. It is already spruiking speeds

SpaceX is building a network of tens of thousands of low-orbit satellites that will form the backbone of the Starlink system. It is already spruiking speeds to homes and businesses of between 50Mbps and 150Mbps – proper broadband pace – and latency as low as 20 milliseconds.

Starlink is currently in beta testing, with plans to launch commercially in the US later this year.

But this week, SpaceX applied to the US Federal Communications Commission to allow it to roll out the service for “earth stations in motion”, including “earth stations on vessels” – that’s boats to you and me – worldwide.

“The urgency to provide broadband service to unserved and underserved areas has never been clearer,” SpaceX’s filing to the FCC reads.

“US and worldwide demand for broadband services and Internet connectivity continues to increase with escalating requirements for speed, capacity, and reliability
and ongoing adaptations for usage.

“The volume of traffic flowing over the world’s networks has exploded, with one report estimating that by 2022 annual global Internet protocol traffic will reach an annual run rate of 4.8 zettabytes – meaning that approximately 4800 billion gigabytes of data would be exchanged worldwide that year.”

Providing internet services on the water is already big business, with some superyachts spending the equivalent of around $16,000 a month as the boats’ owners and guests seek just as much connectivity out on the water as they do in their homes.

Remote connectivity is also important for superyacht skippers, who can access everything from the latest weather reports to the most up-to-date information on the condition of the vessels’ engines.

Starlink has officially launched in Australia, with plans to have the service up and running by the end of 2021.

The service will cost $139 a month with no caps on data, with the hardware including a satellite dish and modem provided for a one-off cost of $809 including shipping and handling.