Very soon Starlink could be operating in the Dominican Republic. The SpaceX-owned service, which provides Internet connectivity using thousands of satellites in space, has already applied for regulatory approvals from the country. And even President Luis Abinader himself, in the framework of the Summit of the Americas, visited the facilities of the firm founded by Elon Musk in Los Angeles.
We visited the facilities of Starlink, who submitted an application to offer Internet services in the DR??. Once approved, we will be the first country in the Caribbean and the third in Latin America to have broadband, low latency, global coverage at low cost. pic.twitter.com/XH5dNtZR7r
– Luis Abinader (@luisabinader) June 9, 2022
After that meeting, it was reported that the company intends to invest in the country. Well, that intention already has tangible evidence. On June 2, Indotel published the concession request to provide the public telecommunications service of internet access in the national territory by the Starlink Dominican Republic SRL Company.
Also, months before -last November-, the National Intellectual Property Office (ONAPI) issued the trademark license to the company Space Exploration Technologies Corp to install its satellites in the Dominican Republic.
What would starlink offer for the Dominican Republic?
That is the question that many technology enthusiasts in the country are asking. And about her it draws attention that ISP.today, the popular internet providers database, already includes the company in the list of internet providers in the Dominican Republic. And it specifies that the Space X company is offering 200 Mbit/s downlink and 100 Mbit/s uplink for US$99.
It should be noted that this price is the standard cost that it has in other countries, so the price could be different at the time of implementation. Luis Abinader himself assured that the agreements with Starlink-SpaceX will provide “broadband, low latency and global coverage at low cost.”
In this link you can see the comparison that Starlink ISP makes with other internet providers in the country.
starlink’s “philosophy” and “challenge”
Starlink’s pitch since its inception has been “to reach areas where connectivity has been unreliable or not fully available,” according to your website. Just like digital banks, which want to “bank the unbanked”, Starlink wants to “connect the unconnected”.
The offer sounds good for countries with large rural communities, like ours; where it also takes time for Internet service providers to extend their antennas to rural communities to access high-speed Internet.
The great challenge will be to truly achieve low cost. A prices’ check Global Starlink in March notes that it now costs a one-time fee of $599 (previously $499) for the dish and router, and $110 (previously $99) for a monthly subscription. A premium product level costs $2,500 for setup and $500 in monthly fees. Prices that suggest that those who could pay for Starlink in the Dominican Republic would be urban people with purchasing power, who already had access to the Internet anyway. (and even, for many of them, it could still be priceless).
