• Agreement snags with SpaceX prevent anticipated April rollout
• Costs of residential service and various tariff plans revealed

Sri Lanka is faced with delays in launching the much anticipated Starlink internet service owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX due to technical issues in the agreement with the company, Cabinet Spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa said.

Speaking at the cabinet decision media briefing yesterday (27), he said that technical issues in the agreement made with Starlink have delayed the launch of the internet service in Sri Lanka.

“We thought we could resolve it by April, but we were unable to do so,” Jayatissa added.

In August 2024, The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) authorised the license of Starlink to provide satellite broadband services in Sri Lanka from 12 August 2024, but the TRCSL itself stated that the service launch was withheld until the conclusion of the presidential election, owing to some pending clearance.

Then it was announced that the launch will happen in April but has been delayed again owing to technical issues.

According to Starlink website, a residential Starlink connection will come at Rs. 15,000 per month along with a Rs. 105,000 hardware cost.

The Rs. 15,000 monthly rental offers unlimited data at speeds varying between 25-220 Mbps for downloads and 5-25 Mbps for uploads.

In January, the TRCSL approved Starlink’s ‘Priority - Fixed' tariff plans. Monthly packages include: Rs. 20,994 for 40 GB of priority data, Rs. 62,859.24 for 1 TB, and Rs. 125,965.46 for 2 TB. For data exceeding the subscribed 1 TB, 2 TB, or 6 TB monthly plans, an additional charge of Rs. 125.57 per GB applies.

The Roam (Mobility) package is Rs. 27,000 per month regional service and Rs. 145,000 per month global service.

Last week, Starlink launched its services in Bangladesh, with monthly packages starting at $ 35. Starlink has more than two million active customers and is available on all seven continents and in over 70 countries.