A $2.14-billion federal loan for an Ottawa-based satellite operator has Canadian politicians arguing about whether American billionaire Elon Musk poses a national security risk.

A $2.14-billion federal loan for an Ottawa-based satellite operator has Canadian politicians arguing about whether American billionaire Elon Musk poses a national security risk.

The fight involves internet connectivity in remote regions as Canada tries to live up to its promise to connect every Canadian household to high-speed internet by 2030.

A week ago, the Liberal government announced the loan to Telesat, which is launching a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites that will be able to connect the most remote areas of the country to broadband internet.

Conservative MP Michael Barrett objected to the price tag, asking Musk in a social media post how much it would cost to provide his Starlink to every Canadian household that does not have high-speed access.

  • 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚎𝚘𝚠@programming.dev
    0·
    2 months ago

    Starlink doesn’t cover the globe, it’s available in the Americas, Europe and Oceania. It’s not available in most of Africa, the Middle East, India, China, Russia, Indochina. E.g. the majority of the world cannot access Starlink.

    I don’t give a shit that Starlink is owned by Musk. Starlink as a company seems fine (it’s not X or anything), but I strongly dislike that their product messes with astronomy in such a major way that astronomists complain about it every chance they get.

    You know that some of us are 10miles from town and considered rural? And the big Telecoms refuse to run broadband for us?

    Sounds like your fight is with “big telecom” and with your local government for not putting up a good enough quote to run fiber. This isn’t an issue for large portions of the world, including rural areas, where they’ve figured out how to get them to lay fiber.

    Internet access for a long time has been pushed as a priority and should be treated as a utility and that everyone should have access to it.

    Access is not the same as high-speed access. Almost all of the world has some level of access, even in rural areas, through sattelites that are not in LEO. Enough to (slowly) browse, not enough to stream in HD. I don’t believe sacrificing considerable astronomical discoveries and progress is remotely worth it when feasible alternatives are available and have been used in large areas of the world already.

    • SupraMario@lemmy.world
      0·
      2 months ago

      Starlink doesn’t cover the globe, it’s available in the Americas, Europe and Oceania. It’s not available in most of Africa, the Middle East, India, China, Russia, Indochina. E.g. the majority of the world cannot access Starlink.

      https://www.starlink.com/map

      China/russia/middle east not allowing it, is not the same as not being available. Did you even check the coverage map before replying.

      I don’t give a shit that Starlink is owned by Musk. Starlink as a company seems fine (it’s not X or anything), but I strongly dislike that their product messes with astronomy in such a major way that astronomists complain about it every chance they get.

      Astronomers complain about light bleed from ground cities as well. No one was telling them to shut down the cities.

      Sounds like your fight is with “big telecom” and with your local government for not putting up a good enough quote to run fiber. This isn’t an issue for large portions of the world, including rural areas, where they’ve figured out how to get them to lay fiber.

      Lol no just no… I dont know where you live but the majority of people in rural areas are not served, otherwise starlink would have never taken off and been sustainable. You think businesses just make products for a few people and break even?

      Access is not the same as high-speed access. Almost all of the world has some level of access, even in rural areas, through sattelites that are not in LEO. Enough to (slowly) browse, not enough to stream in HD. I don’t believe sacrificing considerable astronomical discoveries and progress is remotely worth it when feasible alternatives are available and have been used in large areas of the world already.

      Again this myth you keep spouting that the majority of the world has access is bullshit, and the idea that you’re basically telling people, well planes exist but you need to walk because you live to far from the airport is some classist bullshit.