Satellite

Israel and the United Nations are negotiating the deployment of Elon Musk's SpaceX Starlink communications system in 

The digital divide is a global problem. NCTA – the Internet & Television Association released last week a documentary called “Every Last Mile,” which aims to illustrate the challenges ISPs face in building broadband in rural America, but we went a step further. We looked at which broadband and telecommunications startups are tackling connectivity on a global scale.

The Marubo people have long lived in communal huts scattered hundreds of miles along the Ituí River deep in the Amazon rainforest. They have preserved this way of life for hundreds of years through isolation — some villages can take a week to reach. But since September, the Marubo have had high-speed internet thanks to Elon Musk. The 2,000-member tribe is one of hundreds across Brazil that are suddenly logging on with Starlink, the satellite-internet service from Space X.

AT&T and AST SpaceMobile have entered a definitive commercial agreement to provide a space-based broadband network direct to everyday cell phones. This agreement extends until 2030. Previously the companies were working together under a Memorandum of Understanding. This is not just one small step, but one giant leap towards enhanced connectivity for consumers and businesses across the country. In the summer of 2024, AST SpaceMobile plans to deliver its first commercial satellites to Cape Canaveral for launch into low Earth orbit.

I write [to the Secretary of Defense] regarding my concern about a new report that black market middlemen “have proliferated in recent months to buy [Starlink] user terminals and ship them to Russian forces,” illustrating that, “a shadowy supply chain exists for Starlink hardware that has fed backroom deals in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the United Arab Emirates, putting thousands of the …devices into the hands of some American adversaries and accused war criminals.” According to the report, this ongoing evasion of US sanctions and export controls has “eroded a battlefield advantage once en

Elon Musk’s satellite internet service, Starlink, is expected to play a role in the Biden administration’s $42 billion program to bring high-speed internet to every American home, as Washington comes up against some hard math in its effort to build networks reaching the most remote corners of the nation. The growing discussion of using Starlink to fill in coverage gaps is an acknowledgment of just how expensive and challenging it would be to run new internet cables up every mountain and down every valley nationwide.

The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Engineering and Technology opened a new docket seeking comment on ways to potentially expand Federal access to non-Federal—including commercial—satellite services. In recent years, the commercial satellite industry has undergone tremendous growth and innovation. Federal government agencies have increasingly sought to meet their satellite communications needs by using commercial satellite services.

An organization called the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America submitted a filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) asking the agency to use its official powers to go after Elon Musk, based on their view that he is not doing enough to help Ukraine. Their filing asks the FCC to require Musk to step down from Starlink, to stop processing Starlink applications altogether, and ultimately to revoke SpaceX’s FCC licenses.

What does future demand for broadband speed and usage mean for last mile technologies? The fastest broadband technology today is fiber, and the most common fiber technology is passive optical network (PON), which brings broadband to local clusters of customers.

On battlefields from Ukraine to Sudan, Starlink provides immediate and largely secure access to the internet. Besides solving the age-old problem of effective communications between troops and their commanders, Starlink provides a way to control drones and other advanced technologies that have become a critical part of modern warfare.