The Spanish telecommunications company Telefónica announced an alliance with the satellite network operator Starlink, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, to provide internet connectivity to customers in rural and remote areas, according to the Spanish newspaper “Expansión”.
The Spanish telecom operator has become an authorized global partner – that is, a service distributor – for Starlink’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation. Thus, the Spanish company can offer its customers the service of satellite broadband communication in areas explored by other means, including vehicles.
The advantages of LEO satellite towers over other satellites are that they are in much lower orbits relative to the Earth, so the distance the signal has to travel up and down to the satellite is much shorter. Low Earth orbit satellites are usually located in orbits about 500 km high, while other satellites go up to 36,000 km.
In practice, the response signal will be much smaller.
On the other hand, the disadvantage is that LEO satellites orbit the Earth quickly, so a high density of satellites is needed to ensure continued coverage over time. But the Starlink constellation is the densest among the new satellite companies.
With this agreement, the Spanish telecom company will be able to complement its existing offer, by integrating Starlink’s fixed or mobile business solutions into its global portfolio. The service was initially launched in Latin America, with the process already underway in Mexico, and will be gradually extended to other countries throughout this year.
According to Telefónica, the other countries that will receive this service will be Peru, Colombia, Chile, Brazil and also Spain.
In Spain, however, Starlink will have to compete with fiber and 5G – which are much faster, the Spanish paper explains. Thus, although the agreement with Starlink is global, its usefulness in Spain and Europe (Telefónica is also present as a telecom operator in Germany and the United Kingdom) will be very specific and exceptional.
For this reason, Telefónica will mainly use it to ensure coverage of the company’s premises where there is no other alternative and also to connect highly isolated mobile phone towers.
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