Ukraine’s military’s 1300 SpaceX Starlink terminals stalled due to lack of funding.

Ukraine’s communications infrastructure, which has been fighting against Russia for the past several months, has suffered a major setback due to lack of funding. Ukraine is heavily dependent on SpaceX’s satellite-based Starlink internet service in the war. It is difficult for Russia to interrupt this service. However, due to low funding, this service is being affected.

According to media reports, about 1,300 Starlink terminals being used by the Ukrainian military were stalled two weeks ago due to non-payment of bills. This problem started on 24 October. A person with knowledge of this matter has described it as a big problem for the Ukrainian military. He said the terminals were disconnected due to non-receipt of funding. These terminals were purchased from a British company in March. SpaceX is charging the Ukrainian government about $2,500 per month for each terminal.

This charge is higher than the $110 per month SpaceX charges normal Starlink customers. However, this is far less than Starlink Maritime, another specialty service, which charges around $5,000 a month for onboard coverage at sea. The Defense Department of Ukraine had talked to British military officers to solve this problem and requested them to pay this bill. However, Britain has not included it in aid to Ukraine.

SpaceX founder and CEO, Elon Musk recently said that Starlink has about 25,000 terminals in Ukraine. It is not clear how many of these have been bought by the Ukrainian government. Many western countries including America are supporting Ukraine in this war. Starlink has provided satellite Internet service to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s attack. In this, SpaceX, the company that runs Starlink, has spent millions of dollars. Several Starlink terminals were moved to Ukraine in February this year. With their help, Internet service can be used by connecting to Starlink satellite. Companies such as Starlink and OneWeb are offering internet service through their low-Earth orbit satellites.