Should We Be Worried About Starlink?
It is probably fair to say that the political divide is a problem the world over at present.
From the moment that Leave won the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom, it has felt as though things have gone from one extreme to another, which culminated in the re-election of Donald Trump in spite of the fact that he was a convicted felon at the time of the election.
Now in the Oval Office, Trump has given unprecedented power to Elon Musk, who is using his own status to push Starlink on other countries. Is it something we should be concerned about?
What is Starlink?
Operated by Starlink Services, LLC and manufactured by SpaceX, Starlink is a satellite internet constellation that provides international telecommunications. The satellites began to be launched in 2019, with more than 7,000 small satellites orbiting the Earth’s atmosphere by the September of 2024.
The aim is to have as many as 12,000 in the Low Earth Orbit, with a possible extension to see more than 34,000 eventually. The stated aim of the system is to provide global internet coverage, with the system being ideal for rural and other remote areas.
@noahxboa Is Elon Musks Starlink Internet Satellite Worth It? 👀🚀 #starlink #elonmusk #spacex #tech #money #review #internet ♬ original sound – Noah Da Boa
Instead of using cable technology, as has become the norm for internet service providers, Starlink instead makes use of the satellite internet service technology that has been in existence for decades. The radio signals are sent through space’s vacuum, which are broadcast around the planet courtesy of ground stations beaming signals back and forth with the satellites.
The hope is that the company will be able to create low latency networks that allow for edge computing to be used on Earth. The system offers high-speed data as quick as 150 megabits per second.
It’s Very Expensive
If you are going to put thousands of satellites in the sky, it is going to cost you. Unsurprisingly, Elon Musk, the owner of SpaceX, isn’t in a rush to absorb the costs of his work taking over the skies, so the cost is passed on to us, the consumers.
As a result, the 2025 cost of using the Starlink system came in at £150 to buy the satellite in the first place and an additional £75 per month for the subscription, although different packages are available. It is also only likely to get more expensive, which is worth bearing in mind.
Fun Fact: 4 or 5 Starlink satellites fall out of orbit every day.
— Hal Sparks (@halsparks.com) 8 May 2025 at 03:29
At the time of writing, Starlink is available in as many as 36 different countries, even if the coverage in each area is somewhat limited. If you are in the camp of thinking ‘Musk is evil’, then you will be interested to know that the company currently has no plans to offer Starlink services to Russia, China, Cuba or North Korea.
You are paying a lot of money for something that is likely to have issues working if it rains heavily or if there is a storm, to say nothing of heavy snow and ice also liable to stop the satellite signal from working effectively.
Why it Might be Bad for the World
Depending on who you ask, Elon Musk does not seem like the kind of guy who has the best interests of the minority at heart.
Sure, SpaceX’s Starlink satellites are providing internet service to parts of the world that might not otherwise be able to get online, but that isn’t likely to be their main aim.
It has recently come to light that the United States of America’s State Department has been pushing nations to accept Starlink as their internet provider if they want to get any sort of deal in place on the tariffs that Donald Trump is pushing on them.
On top of that, Starlink is also being pushed to be aircraft, as companies around the world look to see how they can offer internet service to their customers.
In other words, the sites that you visit and information that you gain through the internet will soon be known by a company that is owned by Musk.
There will doubtless be some people for whom that is fine, whilst for many it will be something to be extremely concerned about in an era of ever-lessening personal freedoms.