SpaceX (and Tesla) CEO Elon Muskhas finally decided to continue funding the Starlink terminals being shipped to Ukraine, saying on Twitter that SpaceX will continue to provide “free” satellite internet to the government, even if it means the company loses money.
" While Starlink is still losing money and other companies are taking billions of dollars from taxpayers, we will simply continue to fund the Ukrainian government for free ," Elon Musk wrote on Twitter
See also: Elon Musk: Chinese government doesn't want Starlink in China
Musk said on Friday that he considered it unfair that SpaceX was not funded by the US military to operate Starlink in Ukraine, even as competitors such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing received "billions" for providing resources.
On Friday, a report from CNN revealed that SpaceX has asked the government if it can pay for any additional Starlink terminals being shipped to Ukraine, as well as for existing internet. That would mean paying about $124 million by the end of 2022 and nearly $380 million over the next 12 months. Elon Musk later added on Twitter that Starlink cannot fund services in Ukraine “indefinitely,” and in another tweet said that Starlink is losing about $20 million a month to maintain its services.
However, the tweet he made on Saturday seems to change the facts and that Starlink will continue to be provided.
See also: Starlink Satellite Broadband active on all continents
According to Musk, about 25,000 Starlink terminals have been sent to Ukraine to help with the war effort. The service has played a significant role, allowing the Ukrainian military and ordinary citizens to access the internet during these difficult times, as the country continues to suffer power outages and the risk of cyberattacks remains high.
See also: SpaceX's Starlink internet is now coming to cruise ships
Earlier this month, the Financial Times reported that Starlink outages caused a “catastrophic” communication failure between troops. Musk disputed the report on Twitter, saying that “it is falsely claimed that the terminals and Starlink service have been paid for, when only a small percentage has been paid for.” However, CNN reports that the US, UK and Polish governments have provided full or partial funding for the terminals.
Source: www.theverge.com
