Costa Rica is the latest country to issue a licence to Starlink, the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite broadband provider backed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX venture. According to a report from La Nacion, which cites Federico Chacon, president of the Board of Directors at the Superintendence of Telecommunications (Sutel), Starlink applied for the licence back in October 2022, but had to wait until 27 April for its request to be approved. The Costa Rica licence coincides with Starlink’s recent receipt of licences in Guatemala, Panama and El Salvador.
According to Starlink’s coverage map, satellite connectivity is already live in El Salvador and Panama, while Costa Rica and Guatemala will receive access in 3Q23. Belize and Honduras are set for 2024 launches, but Nicaragua is classified as ‘unknown’. Elsewhere in Latin America, Starlink indicates that Guyana, Suriname, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina are all expected to gain access to the network from 2024.
SpaceX currently has around 4,000 satellites in orbit, with plans to launch 42,000 in total. To date, more than 50 countries are known to have authorised Starlink to offer fixed broadband connectivity.