Elon Musk's Starlink has raised the tariffs of its satellite Internet services for the residents of Ukraine.
According to Telegram channel Insider UA, Ukrainian subscribers have received letters with the following statement: “The monthly service price of Starlink will increase from $60 to $75. The new price will apply to your subscription on 12/29/2022.”
The costs of the company's terminal and antenna will go up from $500 to $700, according to the channel.
After the start of the war, Starlink satellite Internet terminals began operating in Ukraine. With the communications infrastructure under fire, the network is essential to the country's defense capabilities, allowing the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) to fight and stay connected even when cellular communications and Internet networks are destroyed. To date, about 20,000 Starlink terminals have been handed over to Ukraine. Elon Musk has claimed “the operation cost SpaceX $80 million and will exceed $100 million by the end of the year.”
In mid-October, Musk told the Pentagon that he would no longer be able to fund the satellite network in Ukraine. SpaceX asked the US Defense Department to absorb the costs, as his company had already lost tens of millions of dollars. A few days later, Musk said he would “continue to fund the Ukrainian government for free.”
“The hell with it,” the billionaire tweeted, “even though Starlink is still losing money and other companies are getting billions of taxpayer dollars, we’ll just keep funding the Ukrainian government for free.”