After a lengthy wait of six months, the Costa Rican government has finally granted an operations license to SpaceX to provide Starlink internet starting in the third quarter of 2023. This development marks an expansion of Starlink's presence in Latin America. La Nacion, a Costa Rica news outlet, reported that the President of the Board of Directors at the Superintendence of Telecommunications (Sutel), Federico Chacon, mentioned that despite submitting their application in October 2022, the approval was only granted on April 27. The residents of Costa Rica can expect the launch of Starlink's service starting sometime in July or August, bringing them high-speed internet connectivity across the country.
Starlink has also received permission to provide connectivity in Guatemala, Panama, and El Salvador. According to SpaceX’s official Starlink Coverage Map, several countries in the region, such as: Bolivia, Guyana, Guatemala, Suriname, Paraguay, and Argentina, will have to wait until 2024 before they can enjoy Starlink's services. Central America customers can order the Starlink Kit directly from the official Starlink.com website to check the cost in their specific service address.
As of today, SpaceX operates over 4,190 internet-beaming Starlink satellites that provide internet to over 1.5 Million subscribers globally. The service has proven to be reliable in rural and remote communities where internet communication used to be unreliable or completely unavailable. The company is leveraging its reusable Falcon 9 rockets to deploy Starlink satellites on a weekly basis to rapidly build a more robust internet network. Overall, the Starlink constellation will have 12,000 Starlink satellites operating in Low Earth Orbit.
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Featured Image Source: SpaceX
News Tip from H/T @DimaZeniuk via Twitter
About the Author
Evelyn Janeidy Arevalo
Evelyn J. Arevalo joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover news as a Space Journalist and SpaceX Starbase Texas Correspondent. Evelyn is specialized in rocketry and space exploration. The main topics she covers are SpaceX and NASA.
