Starlink establishes Korean entity ahead of service launch

Industry

Published: 17 Mar. 2023, 15:52

Starlink establishes Korean entity ahead of service launch

A screen capture of SpaceX's Starlink website shows that the company is set to begin its satellite internet service in Korea in the second quarter. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

SpaceX’s Starlink has established a local entity in Seoul, as the satellite internet service is set to arrive in Korea in the second quarter.

Starlink Korea was registered as a limited liability company in Seoul on March 8, according to data shown on the Supreme Court’s online real estate registration system.

SpaceX indicates on its website that it will roll out the Starlink service in Korea in the second quarter this year.

In January, SpaceX filed an application for a license to provide telecommunication services in Korea with the Ministry of Science and ICT to begin commercial operation of the Starlink service in the country.

Starlink is a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet network run by SpaceX, a private space company run by Elon Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla.

To use Starlink, customers must buy hardware that costs about $500 and pay about $100 a month.

The service is expected to offer network speeds ranging from 150 megabits per second to 500 megabits, with low latency of 20 to 40 milliseconds, according to a March 14 report from Eugene Investment & Securities.

The Starlink satellite internet service is currently accessible in much of the United States, Europe, Australia and Japan, with over 3,000 LEO satellites deployed.

SpaceX aims to deploy 12,000 small satellites by 2030, possibly pushing that figure up to 42,000 in the future.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]