Wednesday, June 22, 2022 ((rezonodwes.com))–
Haiti, like the Dominican Republic, is on the official list of countries that expect to benefit from satellite internet access services from Starlink, a company owned by Elon Musk.
However, while on the Dominican side, Indotel reported that the SpaceX-owned service, which provides internet connectivity using thousands of satellites in space, has already sought regulatory approvals from the country, officials on the Haitian side have yet to say a word about this authorization. that would be granted to Starlink to operate in Haiti.
And even President Luis Abinader himself, as part of the Summit of the Americas, visited the facilities of the firm founded by Elon Musk in Los Angeles.
After this meeting, it was informed that the company intended to invest in the country. Well, that intention already has tangible evidence.
On June 2, Indotel published the concession application for the provision of public Internet access telecommunications service in the national territory by Sociedad Starlink Dominican Republic SRL
In addition, a few months earlier – last November – the Dominican National Intellectual Property Office (ONAPI) had issued a trademark license to the company Space Exploration Technologies Corp to install its satellites in the Dominican Republic.
WHAT WILL STARLINK OFFER TO THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC AND HAITI?
That’s the question many technology enthusiasts in the country are asking. And it should be noted that ISP.today, the popular internet service provider database, already includes the company in the list of internet service providers in the Dominican Republic. And clarifies that the company Space X offers 200 Mbit/s download and 100 Mbit/s upload for 99 USD.
It should be noted that this price is the standard cost you have in other countries, so the price may differ at the time of implementation. Luis Abinader himself assured that the agreements with Starlink-SpaceX will provide “high throughput, low latency and low cost global coverage”.
STARLINK’S “PHILOSOPHY” AND “CHALLENGE”
Starlink’s pitch from the start has been to “reach areas where connectivity was unreliable or not fully available,” according to its website. Just like digital banks, which want to “bank the unbanked”, Starlink wants to “connect the disconnected”.
The offer looks good for countries with large rural communities, like ours; where it also takes time for internet service providers to extend their antennas to rural communities to access high speed internet.
The big challenge will be to really achieve low cost. A review of Starlink’s global pricing in March indicates that it now costs a one-time fee of $599 (previously $499) for the antenna and router and $110 (previously $99) for a monthly subscription. A premium product tier costs $2,500 to install and $500 in monthly fees. Prices that suggest that those who could afford Starlink in Haiti and the Dominican Republic would be wealthy urban dwellers who already had Internet access anyway. (and even, for many of them, it can still be invaluable).
| France | Mid to late 2021 | |
| Belgium | Mid to late 2021 | |
| Norway | Expected service in 2022 | |
| Finland | Expected service in 2022 | $99.00, Price in USD? |
| Sweden | Expected service in 2022 | $99.00, Price in USD? |
| Greece | Mid to late 2021 | 99 euros |
| Italy | ||
| Spain | Mid to late 2021 -2022 | 99 euros |
| Portugal | Mid to late 2021 | |
| Poland | Mid to late 2021 | 449 PLN, hardware 2269 PLN |
| Ukraine | Expected service in 2022 | |
| South Africa | Expected service in 2022 | |
| Iceland | Expected service in 2022 | $99 |
| Costa Rica | ||
| Hungary | 2022 | |
| Morocco | ||
| Serbia | 2022 | |
| Chile | 2021 | |
| China | 2022 | |
| Argentina | end of 2021 | $99 |
| Panama | 2022 | |
| Malaysia | 2022 | |
| Brazil | 2021 | |
| Nigeria | end of 2021 | |
| dominica | 2022 | |
| Jakarta, Indonesia. | 2022 | $99 |
| Bangladesh | 2022 | |
| Israel | 2022 | |
| Jordan | 2022 | |
| Egypt | 2022 | |
| Saudi Arabia | 2022 | |
| Mongolia | 2022 | |
| Nepal | 2022 | |
| Dominican Republic | 2022 | |
| Sri Lanka | 2022 | |
| Lebanon | 2022 | |
| Puerto Rico | 2022 | |
| British Virgin Islands | 2022 | |
| Haiti | 2022 | |
| Jamaica | 2022 | |
| vanuatu | 2022 | |
| Madagascar | 2022 Source: https://www.reddit.com |