Podcast: What's the story with Starlink?

With SpaceX's Starlink coming closer to a commercial launch, the satellite broadband service is attracting more scrutiny. Recent news had beta testers attesting to the service's adequate speeds, and analysis by Cowen showed that Starlink will eventually be able to support just 485,000 simultaneous users at 100 Mbit/s.

What's more, this week SpaceX founder and all-around wild-and-crazy guy Elon Musk suggested on Twitter that Starlink could go public in a few years.

So what's the story with Starlink? What do we know about the service, what do we still need to learn and what impact is low-Earth orbit satellite likely to have on the broadband industry at large?

That's the subject of today's episode of "What's the Story?" on the Light Reading podcast, featuring Light Reading Senior Editor Mike Dano, who's been keeping us up to speed on Starlink's developments.

"Starlink really does appear to be a rural Internet service," rather than a broadband service one might subscribe to in suburban or urban areas, he said on the podcast.

It may also serve a role in recovery: This week it was reported that Starlink has been deployed to assist the Washington Emergency Management Division in providing Internet access to a town destroyed by the recent wildfires.

For more on Starlink's plans, progress and future, listen to the full episode of "What's the Story?" on the Light Reading podcast below:

You can find more episodes of "What's the Story?" in the Light Reading Podcast feed on Apple Podcasts, Google, SoundCloud and Spotify.

— Nicole Ferraro, contributing editor, host of "What's the Story?" Light Reading