Elon Musk says Starlink will offer internet globally by August

SpaceX will have its ambitious Starlink satellite internet service available globally in August 2021, just over a month from now -- globally, apart from the North and South Poles.

The news comes from Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who said during the recent virtual Mobile World Congress 2021 that Starlink is "operational now in about 12 countries, and more are being added every month". Musk added: "We are on our way to having a few hundred thousand users, possibly over 500,000 users within 12 months".

Elon has to of course comment on the simultaneous active users on Starlink exceeding the "strategically important" threshold of 69,420 on June 25, 2021. In some follow up tweets, Musk added that all 72 orbital planes activate in August, "plus many other improvements" that will be "enabling global coverage, except for polar regions, which will take another 6 months".

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Starlink has been pushing into new markets recently, with the company in discussions with multiple airlines to use its satellite internet technology for super-fast in-flight Wi-Fi. Not only that, but SpaceX could use its hypersonic rocket technology for the next generation of air travel, making international flights and those huge 14-16-18+ hour flights a thing of the past.

• Read more: Elon Musk could use hypersonic rocket for next-gen airline travel
• Read more: Starlink in discussions with multiple airlines for in-flight Wi-Fi
• Read more: Elon Musk's Starlink will be fully operational and global very soon