Elon Musk's SpaceX clears first hurdle to Australian broadband market

Elon Musk’s SpaceX satellite broadband service has taken its first step into the Australian market. The communications regulator has added the company to a list of satellite operators allowed over Australian airspace. But Foxtel has raised concerns the service might conflict with its subscription TV service. The SpaceX Starlink currently has 242 satellites deployed above earth, which it plans to expand to a “constellation” of 7,518 low-earth orbit satellites. The company launched 60 satellites into space last month, and plans to launch around 60 per fortnight in 2020. It is aiming to have services operating in northern parts of the US and in Canada in 2020, and then “near-global coverage of the populated world” by 2021.