SpaceX Loses $20 Mn a Month on Starlink Internet Service in Ukraine

SpaceX is losing about $20 mn a month providing its Starlink satellite internet service to Ukraine, CEO Elon Musk said.

Starlink is a satellite internet provider owned by SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk. (AFP)

SpaceX is losing about $20 million a month providing its Starlink satellite internet service to Ukraine, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said on Twitter.

The company isn't receiving any money from the US Department of Defense for providing the service, “but we'll keep doing it,” Musk said in response to a user on Twitter, adding that several other countries, organizations and people are paying for terminals.

Musk backed down from demands for funding Starlink on the weekend, having previously told the Pentagon that the company couldn't indefinitely fund the system that's helped Ukraine combat Russia's invasion.

Withdrawing support of Starlink threatened a key means of communication used by Ukraine's military forces in areas that don't otherwise have cellular service.

Ukraine has 20,000 Starlink terminals provided evenly by USAID, Poland, the European Union and private companies, according to an Oct. 5 report from state-run news agency Ukrinform that cited Ministry of Digitalization data.