St. Vincent’s government has invested over $200,000 in Starlink internet service equipment for the Southern Grenadines.
Starlink Services, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American aerospace company SpaceX, operates the Starlink satellite internet constellation.
Minister of Information Technology Camilo Gonsalves told parliament that the government initially sent two Starlink devices via the NTRC to Union Island at the start of this week, which is why there is connectivity in some parts of the Southern Grenadines while they set up three Starlink sites in the most affected areas.
“Yesterday, 50 Starlink devices arrived, and they’re currently being configured by the NTRC and the ITSB, two telecom entities within the government. And they are going to deploy these 50 Starlink devices across the southern Grenadines.”
“NEMO will set the requirements based on the need and availability of electricity, such as a generator, to power the Starlink devices. The total cost of the 50 devices is $227,000, and the deployment of these Starlink devices will commence on Friday”.
Gonsalves said he believes that the arrival of the cellular on-wheel devices for the two telecom companies, the repair of the temporary devices, and the provision of Starlink will improve coverage in the southern Grenadines.
“We are ways away from having full, seamless connectivity. And in fairness to the telecom entities, they’re going to need the poles to be up for them to run all of their wires. And until they can do that, what they’re going to have to do is restore coverage in pockets.”
