Internet Market Opens Up, FCC Allows Starlink To Be Used On Planes, Ships And Trucks

JAKARTA - The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday, June 30 authorized SpaceX to use the Starlink satellite internet network on moving vehicles. The permit makes Elon Musk's internet company plan to expand its broadband offering to commercial airlines, ships, and trucks.

Starlink, a fast-growing constellation of internet transmitting satellites in Earth orbit, has long sought to grow its customer base from broadband internet users for individuals in rural, remote locations to potentially more profitable customers in the automotive, shipping, and aviation sectors.

"Allowing a new class of terminal for SpaceX's satellite systems will expand the range of broadband capabilities to meet the growing demands of users who now require connectivity on the go," the FCC said in its authorization published Thursday, June 30.

SpaceX has continued to launch some 2.700 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit since 2019 and has amassed hundreds of thousands of subscribers, including many who pay $110 per month for broadband internet using self-install terminal kits priced at $599 (IDR 8.2 million).

The Hawthorne, California-based space company has in recent years been very focused on wooing airlines to use WiFi from Starlink on their flights. Especially after they signed their first deals, in recent months, with Hawaiian Airlines and the JSX semi-private jet service.

"We're obsessed with the passenger experience," Jonathan Hofeller, Starlink's head of commercial sales, told Reuters at an aviation conference earlier this month. "We'll be boarding a plane here soon, so hopefully passengers will be amazed by the experience."

SpaceX, under license from the FCC has previously made experimental, and has tested the specially designed Starlink terminal for aircraft on Gulfstream jets and US military aircraft.

Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, previously said that the types of vehicles that Starlink is expected to use, based on last Thursday's clearance, are planes, boats, large trucks and RVs. Musk, who is also CEO of electric car maker Tesla Inc, said he did not see any possibility of connecting Tesla cars to Starlink. "Because our terminal is too big," he said.

Competition in the Earth-orbiting satellite internet sector is fierce between SpaceX, satellite operator OneWeb, and the Kuiper project Jeff Bezos, a unit of e-commerce giant Amazon.com which also plans to launch the first prototype of its own broadband satellite network later this year.

In Indonesia, Starlink is also offered. However, it only serves the closed fixed network of PT Telkom Satellite Indonesia (Telkomsat). The government has not given Starlink permission to sell its internet to the public in retail.