Musk says Canada-wide Starlink would cost ‘less than half’ of $2.1 billion Telesat deal

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says Canada-wide coverage for his company’s Starlink high-speed internet service wouldn’t be as costly as you might expect.

On X (Twitter), Conservative MP Michael Barrett responded to news that the Liberal government had announced a $2.14-billion loan to Telesat to help boost the Ottawa-based communications company’s low Earth orbit satellite reception. According to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the deal is “fundamentally about making sure that Canadians and people in more distant communities, in smaller northern communities and in remote parts of the world can be connected to the transformation and the progress that the world is seeing at increasingly destabilizing speeds.”

In response, Barrett asked Musk on X how much it would cost to provide Starlink “to every Canadian household that doesn’t have high speed?” Quoting Barrett, Musk said it would cost “less than half” of the $2.14 billion that the Canadian government is spending on Telesat.

Less than half that amount

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 14, 2024

Of course, Musk has a long track record of lying, so there’s no way to know based on his one post whether the “less than half” claim is at all accurate. (His latest edgelord controversial move saw him questioning in a since-deleted X post why nobody has tried to assassinate U.S. President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris.)

Interestingly, François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s minister of innovation, science and industry of Canada, pushed back against Barrett’s query by blasting Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, not Musk himself.

“Typical (Pierre) Poilievre ‘nonsense,’” Champagne posted on X. “They’d prefer giving money to foreign billionaires instead of supporting our industry and our workers. This loan will help build a world-class Canadian made satellite network and supports thousands of jobs in Quebec! Now that’s common sense!”

Typical Poilievre “nonsense”…

They’d prefer giving money to foreign billionaires instead of supporting our industry and our workers.

This loan will help build a world-class Canadian made satellite network and supports thousands of jobs in Quebec!

Now that’s common sense! 😉 pic.twitter.com/t9ImYNkFIe

— François-Philippe Champagne (FPC) 🇨🇦 (@FP_Champagne) September 15, 2024

As it stands, Telesat expects to launch its satellites in 2026 and begin to offer services in 2027. It remains to be seen how many Canadians would sign up for its network.

For context, Musk said in July that Starlink services about three percent of Canadians, would work out to roughly 400,000 people. Canadian residential users pay over $100/month, vehicle-mounted roaming plans across North America can reach as high as $250.

Via: iPhone in Canada