Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, began testing its direct cell (DTC) service satellite messaging service on Elon Musk’s Starlink last week.
Mobile phones with 4G or LTE networks are directly connected to StarLink satellites in orbit, allowing them to send and receive text messages. The final network will be launched in mid-2026, allowing Ukrainians to access cell services in the country’s mountainous and rural areas.
Experts next told Euronows that the partnership was a “consistent move” for Ukraine despite growing reliance on masks that have threatened to shut down the country’s services in the past.
“There is clearly concern about technology sovereignty, because you just rely on one provider, Starlink. But sovereignty at this point will be your second priority.
“Ukraine definitely makes sovereign concessions to win the war, and so does Europe.”
Ukrainian Starlink’s “Extreme Dependence”
Starlink has over 7,800 constellations satellite Its orbital highways are in orbit from about 550 km from Earth to deliver highway Internet.
Each sends data from the satellite to the ground receiver, such as fiber optic cables, allowing access to the internet in remote locations that are difficult to build current telephone towers.
The advantage of Ukraine’s Starlink is that the terminals that receive signals are “relatively small, book size” and make transport easier, said Jan Frederik Slijkerman, a senior credit strategist at Forecaster Ing Think.
“(StarLink) has great connectivity, great portability and the usual pricing for broadband,” he said.
Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, appealed to Musk two days after the escalation in Russia in February 2022, and two days after the Starlink terminal. The country was first kitconsisting of terminals, kickstands, routers and various cables, delivered six days later.
Update from Fedorov in April says 50,000 Starlink Terminals In Ukraine, it is used to maintain the country’s railways, schools and hospitals online and in case electricity is generated after the Russian attack.
Starlink Service is also used by the Ukrainian Army Communication On the ground, including the 2022 Aerosvikka mission against the Russian army that used Starlink to keep Starlink, the military’s combat management and information processing system, online during a power outage.
Garcia de Viedma said this created “extreme trust” in Starlink’s satellite internet during the war.
“The dependency is already there because I don’t think there’s a way to win a war without communication unless (the Ukrainian army) communicates with smoke and pigeons,” he said.
The report appeared in March Musk They were considering turning off the Starlink terminal and signing a rare earth mineral contract with President Donald Trump, who has a $500 billion (43.034 billion euros) contract in Ukraine.
Musk I said He never turned off terminals “not turn off terminals”” and how much he opposed Ukrainian policies and used them as “negotiation chips.”
“Alternative work”
Garcia de Viedma said the Kyivstar deal could be a way to lock up musks to prevent him from actually withdrawing the satellite.
If the mask can tap Kyivstar’s customer base to make more money in the country, not just military deals, Dario said it would be more difficult for him to justify cutting the satellite.
Still, Garcia de Viedma and Slijkerman believe that Ukraine needs some kind of redundancy plan or should continue their business with Starlink and Musk to diversify the way they provide internet services.
“Yes, that’s a risk (closing the satellite) and I don’t know if they’ve gained a new sense of security,” Srikerman said. “But I believe it makes sense to (work) the alternative.”
One thing you can do is limit Starlink Keewster’s partnership to hard-to-reach areas without expanding to clients in Ukrainian cities, Garcia de Vidma said.
If so, city customers would have to have a way to connect to 4G and LTE connections “as a backup,” he added.
Another way to diversify your internet connection is to connect with European alternatives to Starlink, such as the Franco-British Eutelsat and the EU’s IRIS2, Slijkerman said.
However, he said Starlink is far ahead of its competitors in the launch model, the number of satellites in operation, and its customer base (estimated at 6 million by the company in July).