Ukraine military’s 1300 SpaceX Starlink terminals stalled due to lack of funding

Ukraine’s communications infrastructure, which has been fighting Russia for the past several months, has suffered a major setback due to lack of funding. In the war, Ukraine is heavily dependent on SpaceX’s satellite-based Starlink internet service. It is difficult for Russia to interrupt this service. However, due to less funding, this service is being affected.

According to media reports, about 1,300 Starlink terminals used by Ukraine’s military were shut down two weeks ago due to non-payment of bills. This problem started on 24 October. A person with knowledge of the matter described it as a major problem for Ukraine’s military. He said that the terminals were disconnected due to non-availability of funding. These terminals were purchased from a British company in March. SpaceX receives approximately $2,500 from the Ukrainian government per month for each terminal. charge Is taking

This charge is higher than the $110 a month SpaceX charges normal Starlink customers. However, this is far less than another specialty service, Starlink Maritime, which charges about $5,000 a month for coverage on ships at sea. To solve this problem, the Defense Department of Ukraine talked to the British military officials and requested them to pay this bill. However, Britain has not included this in its aid to Ukraine.

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk recently said that Starlink has about 25,000 terminals in Ukraine. It is not clear how many of these have been bought by the government of Ukraine. Many western countries including America are supporting Ukraine in this war. Starlink has provided satellite internet to Ukraine since the start of the Russian attack Service made available. In this, SpaceX, the company running Starlink, has spent millions of dollars. Several Starlink terminals were delivered to Ukraine in February this year. With their help, internet service can be used by connecting to Starlink satellite. Companies such as Starlink and OneWeb are offering Internet service via their low-Earth orbit satellites.