Viasat’s satellites in Europe were taken offline by Kremlin-associated malware

A satellite broadband outage impacting thousands of customers in Ukraine and across Europe was the result of malware linked to the Russian government.

The outage occurred on 24 February 2022. That date has sadly gone down in history as the day Russia decided to launch its invasion of Ukraine—causing tens of thousands of deaths on both sides, displacing around 6.5 million people within the country, and leading to an estimated 4.1 million refugees.

Given the timing, the...

1 April 2022 | Broadband

OneWeb turns to SpaceX for satellite launches after Roscosmos snub

OneWeb is turning to rival SpaceX to launch its LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellites after Russian space agency Roscosmos snubbed the British firm.

A rocket carrying 36 of OneWeb’s satellites was due to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome earlier this month.

In the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Roscosmos refused to launch the satellites unless OneWeb accepted two demands—for the British government to sell its stake in the firm, and to guarantee they will not...

22 March 2022 | Broadband

Ookla finds Starlink now averages over 100 Mbps

Research from Ookla finds that Starlink now averages over 100 Mbps in 15 countries.

The results, from Q4 2021, suggests that SpaceX’s satellite system continues to beat median fixed broadband speeds in most locations:

StarlinkFixed BroadbandAustralia141.5551.35Austria131.8450.33Belgium155.1576.94Canada106.6496.39Chile118.95168.92France102.1575.47Germany115.5865.86Ireland123.5165.89Italy124.3949.56Mexico141.9436.56Netherlands138.4095.55New...

17 March 2022 | Broadband

SpaceX sends more Starlink terminals to Ukraine but experts warn of targeting

SpaceX is sending another batch of Starlink terminals to Ukraine but experts have warned about potential targeting.

Ukraine has suffered intermittent connectivity as it defends itself from Russia’s invasion of the country. Some of the outages have been the result of damage to telecoms infrastructure itself, while others due to wider power outages.

Within the past few hours, NetBlocks – which tracks network disruptions and shutdowns – posted a particularly...

7 March 2022 | Broadband

SpaceX’s fourth Starlink launch in under a month deploys another 60 satellites

SpaceX has successfully completed its fourth Starlink mission in under a month, adding a further 60 satellites to its constellation.

The latest batch of SpaceX’s broadband satellites brings the total launched this month to an incredible 240.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1374655811146768386

As usual, SpaceX used its Falcon-9 rocket for the mission. What’s particularly impressive about this launch is the flight-prove booster served on five previous...

24 March 2021 | Networks

Starlink expands its satellite broadband service to all UK regions

SpaceX’s satellite broadband service Starlink has expanded to all regions of the United Kingdom.

The service, currently still in beta, was previously only available in southern England. Today, the company has announced an expansion to cover parts of Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and northern England.

Starlink says users should currently expect data speeds to vary between 50Mb/s to 150Mb/s over the next several months, with brief periods of no connectivity...

10 March 2021 | Networks