Elon Musk, CEO of Spacex, claims that even if Starlink is losing money, his business would “keep funding” the government of Ukraine without charge. He points out that Spacex has already spent $80 million on providing internet terminals and services to Ukraine. Additionally, Musk emphasized, “We’ve had to fight against jamming and cyberattacks, which are becoming more difficult.
We’ll keep providing free funding to Ukraine, claims Musk
Since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, Spacex has been shipping Starlink internet terminals and offering services to Ukraine. In February, Musk started supplying the Ukrainian authorities with Starlink internet terminals at their request.
But according to reports, in a letter to the Pentagon in September, Spacex’s head of government sales stated that the company was “not in a position to contribute additional terminals to Ukraine, or fund the present terminals for an indeterminate period of time.” According to reports, the Pentagon acknowledged receiving communication from Spacex regarding the financing of the Starlink satellite communications system in Ukraine.
On October 7, Musk tweeted an explanation for the “just a small fraction” of Starlink terminals and services that had been paid for.
Musk provided the following explanation in response to a question on Twitter regarding the cost of “maintaining Starlink in Ukraine”: “In addition to terminals, we have to develop, launch, maintain, and refill satellites & ground stations & pay telecoms for access to [the] internet via gateways. We’ve also had to fight off increasingly difficult hacks and jamming.
There are about 25k terminals in Ukraine, but each terminal may be used to offer an internet uplink to a mobile phone tower, so theoretically several thousand people can be serviced by a single terminal, Musk added in a tweet on October 9.
On October 14, Musk stated that there is a “huge difference” between communications on the peace front and communications on the battlefield. “Starlink is the sole communication system at the warfront that is still operational; all others are dead. Russia is attempting to aggressively destroy Starlink. Spacex has devoted significant resources to defense in order to be safe. Starlink could still pass away, he warned.The Spacex CEO later tweeted, “Internet fiber, phone lines, cell towers & other space-based comms in war areas have been destroyed.” The only option left is Starlink. right now.
The vice prime minister of Ukraine and minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, tweeted on October 14 that Elon Musk was one of the largest private benefactors to Ukraine.Starlink is an essential part of our essential infrastructure.
Steve Anderson is an Australian crypto enthusiast. He is a specialist in management and trading for over 5 years. Steve has worked as a crypto trader, he loves learning about decentralisation, understanding the true potential of the blockchain.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/10/22/elon-musk-says-spacex-will-keep-funding-ukraine-for-free-even-though-starlink-is-losing-money-80m-spent-so-far/