Elon Musk Friday confirmed reports that SpaceX won’t be able to pay for Starlink satellite internet in Ukraine indefinitely. On Thursday, a CNN report said that SpaceX won’t be able to pay for the services in Ukraine anymore. US military has also confirmed it was communicating with the billionaire’s company about funding for the key network.
A few days back, Musk had angered Ukrainian officials for suggesting his controversial plan for de-escalating the conflict, which included acknowledging Russian sovereignty over Crimea. He faced severe criticism from various quarters for the same and some reports suggest that this is the reason why he wants to pull the plug on the satellite internet.
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A Ukrainian journalist then pointed out that Ukrainian diplomat Andrij Melnyk had asked him to stay out of the matter, after which Musk started talking about stopping the services.
We’re just following his recommendation 🤷♂️
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 14, 2022
Starlink has played a vital role in Ukraine’s communications amid Russia’s invasion of the country. The company operates a constellation of more than 3,000 small satellites in low Earth orbit. Musk had informed last week that SpaceX donated some 25,000 ground terminals to Ukraine.
In a series of tweets, the world’s richest man appeared to confirm the CNN report saying he had written to the Pentagon warning that he might have to stop funding the entire thing and that the military would need to foot the bill.
“SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but also cannot fund the existing system indefinitely *and* send several thousand more terminals that have data usage up to 100X greater than typical households,” he tweeted.
“This is unreasonable.”
SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but also cannot fund the existing system indefinitely *and* send several thousand more terminals that have data usage up to 100X greater than typical households. This is unreasonable.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 14, 2022
Also Read | SpaceX wants Pentagon to foot bills for Starlink satellite services in Ukraine
Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said Friday that the US Department of Defense is in contact with Musk on the matter.
“We can confirm the department received correspondence from SpaceX about the funding of… their satellite communications product in Ukraine. We remain in communication with SpaceX about this and other topics,” Singh said in a statement.
Musk also informed the operation has already cost SpaceX $80 million and is likely to exceed $100 million by year end.
However, as per CNN reports, SpaceX figures shared with the Pentagon show about 85 per cent of the first 20,000 terminals in Ukraine were paid at least in part by countries such as the United States, Poland, or other entities, which also paid for about 30 percent of internet connectivity.
(With inputs from agencies)
