Starlink AU-NZ service to launch mid-to-late 2021

Starlink, the low-orbit satellite broadband service set up by Elon Musk's SpaceX company, will become available for Australian and New Zealand customers this year, with a tentative mid to late 2021 launch date.

Source: SpaceX

Pricing for Australia is $139 a month for a service option with presently no data caps, providing speeds between 50 to 150 Mbps and latency somewhere between 20 to 40 milliseconds courtesy of thousand of interlinked satellites orbiting the earth at just 550 kilometres from the ground.

On top the monthly subscription charge, Starlink's customer terminals cost $709 each, with $100 shipping and handling charge added.

For New Zealand, the cost is NZ$159 a month and NZ$799 plus $114 shipping and handling, respectively.

Starlink is currently in beta testing with pre-orders opening up as of today.

In comparison, the NBN-wholesaled Sky Muster Service where the satellite is approximately 36,000 kilometres above ground costs retails at $34.95 per month for 15GB of peak and 70GB off-peak data at 12/1 Mbps, with evening speeds typically at 8 Mbps.

Sky Muster's top tier service runs at 25/5 Mbps with 145/160GB peak/off-peak data with fair use provisions, for $199 a month, with free standard installation.