Telstra has inked a deal to use Elon Musk’s low-Earth orbit satellite constellation, Starlink, to provide voice and internet plans to rural customers, in a move that may pile further pressure on NBN’s own Sky Muster service.
Australians have been able to access Starlink services since 2021, and more than 120,000 had reportedly done so as of May this year. Telstra will aim to make its services more accessible, offering local tech support and professional installation, as well as the option of voice-only or voice-plus-broadband plans.
Demand for Starlink services in regional Australia have outpaced NBN’s own Sky Muster services, which are sold through various telcos.
It will be the first telco in the world to offer such bundles using Starlink.
The service will be available in select rural and regional areas that are not sufficiently serviced by existing copper, fixed wireless and mobile networks, and are expected to roll out late this year. Telstra has yet to announce pricing.
“Starlink will provide an additional connectivity option for people and businesses in rural and remote locations where distance and terrain make it difficult to provide quality connectivity with existing terrestrial networks,” said Telstra regional Australia executive Loretta Willaton, in a blog post.
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“As well as offering great data throughput, the proximity of these satellites reduces latency making them a great and more consistent option for services that need low latency, like voice and video calls.”
The Starlink constellation, operated by US company SpaceX of which Musk is the founder and CEO, is essentially the only alternative to NBN’s Sky Muster satellites that Australians have for satellite internet.
Sign-ups for Sky Muster services have fallen since Starlink’s arrival in Australia, with user numbers sitting at 100,114 in February this year, from a high of 112,600 in 2021.