SpaceX’s Starlink continues to expand its ground station portfolio, expanding its terrestrial infrastructure in Chile and Ecuador.

Starlink targets Chile

Local press report Chile’s undersecretariat of telecommunications (Subtel) this week authorized a request submitted by Starlink to roll out six ground stations across the country.

Five of them will be located in the Metropolitan Region - in the municipalities of San Bernardo, Pudahuel, Las Condes, and Quilicura. One gateway site each is planned in Cabrero (Biobío Region) and Limache (Valparaíso Region).

The company is said to have 30 days from authorization to begin construction; the entire project must be completed within a maximum of 22 months and operational within 24 months.

As noted by BNAmericas, Chile was the first Latin American country to approve Starlink’s internet service, granting permits for five stations in late 2021. The request for new ground stations is reportedly due to an increase in demand within the country.

Local telecoms firm Entel announced a partnership with Starlink in Chile and Peru last year. Starlink is set to offer direct-to-cell services in Chile via Entel.

Starlink has dozens of ground station sites worldwide and continues to build out new ones. The company recently filed for permission for ground station deployments in County Mayo, Ireland; Tampa, Florida; Christchurch, New Zealand; and Leuk, Switzerland. In Asia, the firm is placing infrastructure in Vietnam and Bangladesh.

Starlink places gateway in the Galapagos

Meanwhile, in Ecuador, Starlink recently deployed a new community gateway ground station to the Galapagos Islands.

Corporación de Telecomunicaciones (CNT), Ecuador’s public telecommunications company, recently announced: “On August 19, CNT introduced its community gateway, with Starlink technology. This project marks a new era of connectivity for the islands, offering fiber-like speeds from space to the Galápagos Islands.”

“Starlink connecting the Galápagos Islands with a Community Gateway, providing fiber-like Internet speeds from space,“ Starlink added in its own post.

While Starlink can offer services directly to consumers through small antennas, Starlink community gateways offer Internet transit to other Internet Service Providers, providing “fiber-like speeds” to communities.

The satellite firm says the service – which requires larger radome-clad antennae compared to the smaller consumer flat panels – offers speeds of up to 10Gbps up and down. Prices for the gateways start at $75,000/Gbps per month with a one-time upfront cost of $1.25 million.

Starlink first deployed a community gateway to the island of Unalaska, Alaska, for local provider OptimERA xG.

Broadband Systems Corporation of Rwanda, Kativik Regional Government of northern Canada, Tuvalu Telecom, Nauru’s Telikom (aka Neotel), and FSM Telecom in Micronesia have also deployed Starlink community gateways.

CNT has previously relied on SES for satellite connectivity to the Galapagos, a province of Ecuador roughly 1,000km off the country’s coast. After signing a deal in 2015 to use SES’ O3b fleet, CNT signed a second deal to use the operator’s newer O3b mPower satellites in 2022. Though long delayed, the island is set to be connected to mainland Ecuador via a subsea fiber cable for the first time in 2027.