U.S. FCC authorizes use of Starlink internet for use with moving vehicles

SpaceX has steadily launched 2,700 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit since 2019

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission authorized SpaceX to use the Starlink satellite internet network with moving vehicles. The authorization was in line with the company's plan to expand broadband offerings to commercial airlines, shipping vessels, and trucks. Starlink is a fast-growing grid of internet-beaming satellites in orbit. The project's main aim is to enhance its customer base from individual broadband users in rural, internet-poor locations to enterprise customers in the lucrative automotive, shipping, and airline sectors.

SpaceX has steadily launched around 2,700 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit since 2019 and has garnered hundreds of thousands of subscribers, including many who pay $110 a month for broadband internet using $599 self-install terminal kits. SpaceX, under an earlier experimental FCC license, has been testing out the aircraft-tailored Starlink terminals on Gulfstream jets and U.S. military aircraft. Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, has previously said that the types of vehicles Starlink was expected to use were aircraft, ships, large trucks, and RVs. Competition in the low-Earth orbiting satellite internet sector is fierce between SpaceX, satellite operator OneWeb, and Jeff Bezos's Kuiper project, a unit of e-commerce giant Amazon.com which is planning to launch the first prototype satellites of its broadband network later this year.