The Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov announced that more than 10,000 additional Starlink terminals will be sent to Ukraine in the coming months. He also confirmed that the issue of financing the satellite Internet service, which is critically important for the country, has already been resolved. The payment for the terminals will be shared between the governments of several countries of the European Union. He told about this in an interview with Bloomberg.
Fedorov did not publicly indicate which governments are participating in the payments. But he confirmed that there is currently no contract for the delivery of the next batch, so Ukraine will need to find additional financing before the spring of 2023.
“SpaceX and Musk are quick to respond to issues and help us. Elon Musk assured us that he will continue to support Ukraine. When we had a long blackout after heavy attacks, I sent Musk a message and he answered immediately and took some steps to respond. He understands the situation,” Fedorov said, alluding to Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Initially, Elon Musk agreed that his company would continue to finance the Starlink terminals. But after the US government refused to pay for existing Internet services and additional terminals sent to Ukraine, the head of SpaceX said that Starlink is losing about 20 million dollars a month to support services to our country.
SpaceX has since announced Starshield, a new government service providing a secure satellite network, and has raised prices for satellite terminals and Starlink services in Ukraine after an initial discount in August to “adapt to local market conditions.”
Earlier we reported on how SpaceX announced the direct connection of smartphones to Starlink satellites.
