Elon Musk has confirmed Starlink will come out of beta testing next month.
The 50-year-old entrepreneur and billionaire has said SpaceX’s internet service will come out of its beta testing phase in October, one year after it started its limited roll-out for testing in October 2020.
On Friday (September 12, 2021), a Twitter user asked: “when will starlink come out of beta (sic)”
And Musk simply replied: “Next month.”
Starlink is designed to improve internet speeds by sending thousands of small satellites into orbit, where they form constellations of routers that send stable connectivity back to earth.
The service has built momentum since beta testing began, and has jumped from having 10 000 customers in February this year to shipping 100 000 terminals last month.
Meanwhile, Musk previously said he was hoping to have Starlink operational around the world in August.
He said at the time: “We are on our way to having a few hundred thousand users, possibly over 500 000 users within 12 months.”
Musk also insisted the service isn’t meant for the common market as he wants it to reach the 3-5% of the world’s population that can’t access the internet.
He explained: “It’s really about getting to parts of the world that are the hardest to reach, the most difficult to reach. It’s really a nice complement to fibre and 5G.”
Bang Showbiz