Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starlink in talks with Project Gigabit in the UK

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is in talks with the United Kingdom for the company’s Starlink satellite unit to gain potential funding as part of the government’s new $ 6.9 billion internet infrastructure program, CNBC confirmed.

The British Minister for Digital Infrastructure, Matt Warman, recently met with Starlink’s management, a person familiar with the talks told CNBC as part of ongoing talks with a number of technology companies for the “Project Gigabit” plan launched on Friday.

Sky News first reported the talks, noting that Britain’s secretary of culture, 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 talks, while the British government declined to comment.

Starlink is the company’s capital-intensive project to build an interconnected internet network with thousands of satellites, known in the space industry as a constellation, designed to provide high-speed internet to consumers anywhere on the planet.

The company has launched more than 1,200 satellites into orbit so far, and in October began launching the early Starlink service in a public beta version that now extends to customers in the US, Canada, UK, Germany and New Zealand – with a service to priced at $ 99 a month in the US

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

The first phase of the project will bring together the solutions proposed by companies with a variety of delivery methods, including satellites and other “high altitude platforms”.

The Gigabit project represents the potential for SpaceX to add more government grants to Starlink, as the company received nearly $ 900 million in federal grants at the end of last year as part of the Federal Communications Commission’s rural broadband auction.

The FCC awarded SpaceX the fourth largest fund in the $ 9.2 billion auction, with the grants to be distributed in monthly reference payments over the next decade. But the SpaceX award was met with protest from other US broadband providers, most notably DISH Network, with other internet service providers rejecting Starlink as a “scientific experiment” with “completely unproven technology”.

SpaceX responded by telling the FCC that complaints from other vendors have “no valid basis” and come as a way to “make it difficult for a competitor.”

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

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

By adding more spacecraft to orbit each month as its rockets launch 60 Starlink satellites at a time, NASA said it needed “increased interaction and partnership” to continue safe operations in orbit.

“NASA has agreed not to maneuver in the event of a potential conjunction to ensure that the parties do not maneuver with each other. and that NASA will maintain its planned trajectory, unless SpaceX informs otherwise, “the agreement said.

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

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