By
Jack Denton
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The U.K. approval marks a major expansion by Starlink, part of SpaceX, into Europe.
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The antennas for the satellite broadband system founded by Elon Musk, Starlink, have been granted a license by the U.K.’s communications regulator, opening the door for the company’s expansion into another major market.
Starlink is a part of SpaceX, the private space-exploration company founded by Musk, but the billionaire engineer has said that the satellite internet service is a candidate for an initial public offering.
The back story. Starlink is the
Tesla
chief executive’s project to bring superfast internet to areas outside of existing broadband coverage through an array of 12,000 low-Earth satellites. SpaceX has already launched close to a thousand satellites for the company, which has begun beta-testing its service in the U.S., where the service costs $99 a month in addition to $499 for home hardware.