SpaceX Starlink by Elon Musk in conversation with the British Project Gigabit

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is in talks with the UK to potentially fund the company’s Starlink satellite unit as part of the government’s new $ 6.9 billion internet infrastructure program, CNBC confirmed.

UK Digital Infrastructure Secretary Matt Warman recently met with the leadership of Starlink, a person familiar with the talks against CNBC, as part of ongoing discussions with a number of technology communications companies for the ‘Project Gigabit’ plan out on Friday. rolled out.

Sky News first reported the talks, noting that British Culture Minister Oliver Dowden believes Starlink is one of the best options for providing Internet services to hard-to-reach areas across the country.

SpaceX did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the discussions, while the UK government declined to comment.

Starlink is the company’s capital-intensive project to build an interconnected Internet network of thousands of satellites, known in the space industry as a constellation, designed to deliver high-speed Internet to consumers around the world.

The company has launched more than 1,200 satellites into orbit to date and began rolling out early Starlink service in a public beta in October that is now available to customers in the US, Canada, UK, Germany and New Zealand – with a service costing $ 99. a month in the US.

The UK launched the first phase of Project Gigabit on Friday, the government’s $ 6.9 billion (£ 5 billion) program to upgrade the internet service of more than a million households and businesses.

In the first phase of the project, proposed solutions will be collected from companies with a variety of delivery methods, including satellites and other “high-altitude platforms”.

Project Gigabit represents the potential for SpaceX to add more government grants for Starlink, as the company received nearly $ 900 million in federal grants from the Federal Communications Commission’s nationwide broadband auction late last year.

The FCC awarded SpaceX the fourth most money in the $ 9.2 billion auction, with the grants going to be split into monthly milestone payments over the next ten years. But SpaceX’s award has been met with protests from other US broadband providers, notably DISH Network, with other ISPs denouncing Starlink as a “science experiment” with “completely unproven technology.”

SpaceX has responded by telling the FCC that the complaints from other providers “have no valid basis” and are a way of “hoarding a competitor.”

SpaceX has continued to expand Starlink’s service in the meantime, with the public beta gaining more than 10,000 users in the first three months. Musk’s company plans to extend its Starlink service beyond the home and is asking the FCC to extend its connectivity authorization to “moving vehicles” so that Starlink can be used with everything from airplanes to ships and large trucks.

SpaceX also signed an agreement with NASA in January, the US space agency announced last week, to work together to avoid collisions with the company’s Starlink satellites.

With the company adding more spacecraft to orbit every month, while its rockets launch 60 Starlink satellites simultaneously, NASA said that “more interaction and partnership” was needed “to ensure continuous safe” operations in orbit.

NASA has agreed not to maneuver in the event of a potential conjunction to ensure that the parties do not accidentally maneuver into each other. NASA will operate on the basis that the autonomous maneuverability of the Starlink satellites will try to maneuver to avoid cooperation with NASA. assets, and that NASA will continue on its planned trajectory unless SpaceX informs otherwise, ”the agreement said.

The agency also said it will work with SpaceX to “share technical expertise and lessons learned” to reduce the brightness of the satellites.

The company has previously announced changes to the satellites to reduce brightness, following complaints from astronomers given the growing presence of Starlink satellites in the sky.