SpaceX's satellite mobile communication service "Starlink", available globally in August-Mr. Musk-CNET Japan

　Elon Musk unveiled "Mobile World Congress 2021" online on June 29, US time, and his venture capital firm SpaceX's satellite broadband service "Starlink" is expected to be used globally except the Arctic and Antarctica from August.

　Speaking of Starlink's services, Musk said: "there are currently about 12 countries offering, and the areas provided are expanding every month."

　The high-speed broadband service consists of more than 1800 low-orbit satellites launched by SpaceX. Starlink has more than 69, 000 active users, and the service is growing rapidly, Musk said.

　"if this continues, the number of users could exceed hundreds of thousands, or even 500000, in the next 12 months," Musk said. It is reported that the number of Starlink users was about 10, 000 in February, up from less than 70, 000 in June.

　Musk admitted that SpaceX's investment in the high-speed Internet service could be as high as $5 billion to $10 billion (about 550 billion to 1 trillion 100 billion yen). The cost of this service is by no means cheap compared with other broadband services. The monthly fee is $99 (about 11,000 yen), and subscribers must buy the required satellite receiving antenna equipment at a price of $499 (55000 yen).

　In this regard, Musk explained that the service is not aimed at tens of thousands of people, but at 3 to 5 per cent of the world's population without access to the Internet.

　He also revealed that SpaceX sold the hardware involved in using the service at a loss. The full set of hardware sells for nearly $1300 (144, 000 yen), while SpaceX says it sells it to users for $499.

　Low-altitude orbit has the advantage of less delay than other satellite Internet systems. Musk said that latency and download speed are important factors in providing Internet services, and Starlink is an effective alternative in cases where 5G or optical fiber is not available because of its delay and speed.

　Supported by this technological advance, SpaceX has begun to work with wireless operators around the world to provide "backhaul". If there is no "backhaul", the connected cellular provider must aggregate traffic from its own base station to the Internet.

This report is a report from overseas Red Ventures by DPRK-Japan Interactive for Japanese editors.