Microsoft to take on Elon Musk’s Starlink, here’s how – Times of India

Elon Musk’s SpaceX-owned Starlink satellite constellation provides internet coverage to 40 countries. Companies such as Meta (Connectivity/ Aquila) and Google (Loon) have also tried their hands on the same technology but pulled the plug on their projects. Amazon has already announced its entry into this space and now it looks like another Big Tech company is jumping into the fray. Microsoft has announced that it is now working on a project to deliver internet access to 10 million people globally.
Microsoft, Viasat partnership
Microsoft and global communications company Viasat have announced that they will deliver internet access to 10 million people around the globe, including 5 million across Africa. The partnership is under Microsoft’s Airband Initiative, which will deliver internet in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Guatemala, Mexico, and the US. The project also plans to expand to Egypt, Senegal and Angola.
Under the project, the companies will enable telehealth, distance learning and education, precision agriculture, clean power, and other services to reach new areas. “The companies will collaborate to provide and pilot technologies including, but not limited to, satellites (both geostationary orbit and low earth orbit) and fixed wireless,” Microsoft said in a blog post.

According to the International Telecommunication Union at the UN, roughly one third of the world’s population (or 2.7 billion people) doesn’t have the internet. “We believe access to the internet is a fundamental right and that digital skills create and enable economic prosperity for people, businesses and governments. Through our Airband Initiative we will extend high-speed internet access to 100 million people on the continent of Africa and to a quarter of a billion people living in unserved and underserved areas across the world by 2025,” said Teresa Hutson, Microsoft’s vice president of Technology and Corporate Responsibility.
Internet via Microsoft’s Airband Initiative
Microsoft says that the company and its partners have already delivered high-speed internet access to more than 51 million people globally through Airband. These include over 4 million people in unserved US rural communities and an additional 47 million in 16 unserved and underserved countries outside the US. The initiative was launched in 2017.