Elon Musk’s Starlink seeking licence for internet by satellite

But Daniel Rix, a director of a local consultancy WiFi Matters, was unsure how effective such a service would be.

The Guernsey Competition and Regulatory Authority has received an application for Starlink to operate in Guernsey, offering high speed internet services through satellite communications.

Mr Rix said that it was good for more digital capabilities to be coming to the island, but now that fibre is being installed, he questioned Starlink's value for money.

‘I think there could be a lot of additional costs and challenges that come with Starlink,’ he said.

‘It’s fair enough paying £500 for the initial outlay, but then you have to install the external antenna, cable it into the property and from there sort out the distribution of the internet,’ he said.

‘You would get much more stability and faster speed with fibre or copper networks and the monthly cost is consistent with island services.’

Starlink has proposed to provide the island with a high-speed, low-latency satellite internet service through its low earth orbit satellite communications constellation.

It claims to be able to supply fibre-like connectivity with speeds above 100 megabits per second and 80 mbps upload, however Mr Rix believes that this could be achieved by using the island’s fibre network.

‘Starlink requires a clear view of the sky to maintain connection with the satellites so it’s much more open to instability, and it will still run slower depending on who is using the service.’

In December last year, the GCRA deliberated on licensing satellite services and invited expressions of interest from parties in being licensed to provide a gateway earth station or user terminal network services.

The final decision on the framework was published in March, and Starlink submitted an expression of interest.

The GCRA proposes to issue Starlink with a fixed telecommunications licence that permits provision of satellite services but is open for consultation.