Over the past month, applications for using Starlink from a phone or computer in Ukraine have been installed 215 thousand times. This represents 58 percent of the global number of downloads. But the use of a new type of communication in the frontline zone is still weak.
The use of Starlink in Ukraine is spreading like a tsunami
On February 26, when Elon Musk opened the Starlink satellite communication system for Ukraine in our country, there was not a single user of its terminals. Currently, there are hundreds of thousands of them. According to Apptopia, in the last month alone, applications used to connect mobile phones and computers to terminals have been downloaded 215 thousand times in Ukraine.
This represents 58 percent of the total number of downloads of these applications in the world in a month. If you look at the statistics from the beginning of the war, the figures are even more striking. Out of more than 650 thousand downloads of applications, Ukraine accounts for almost 400 thousand. This makes our country one of the largest users of this new service.
More Starlink terminals are used in hospitals. According to the Minister of Health of Ukraine Viktor Liashko, it is possible to keep in touch with many hospitals solely thanks to the use of satellite communications.
Coverage in eastern Ukraine is still weak
The unprecedented active implementation of Starlink in Ukraine is a response to Russia’s attempts to completely destroy communications in the country. Its troops tried to jam the signals of satellite operators and ground-based repeaters, tried to hack networks, damaged the equipment of wired networks and even bombed TV towers in Kyiv and Kharkiv.
Combined with a large-scale disinformation campaign that was carried out in the occupied territories, this could make tens of thousands of people victims of Russian propaganda. Now Ukraine is playing the role of a testing ground for many of the latest weapons systems. And Starlink is the most important of them.
Starlink in Ukraine is used by both civilians and the military. At the same time, the connection remains quite weak in the east of the country. This may be due to the continuous radio-electronic attacks of the Russians. On April 21, SpaceX launched 53 new satellites into space. Now they are heading to their working orbits. Therefore, it is quite possible that the signal from them will improve in the near future.
According to www.economist.com
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