SpaceX and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk said in a tweet that the company’s Starlink satellite internet network would come out of its open beta phase next month.

Earlier this year, Elon Musk’s satellite network, Starlink, is on track to provide broadband internet everywhere in the world by August.

This new date is two months later than the August date Musk gave at Mobile World Congress

Starlink is a division within Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) and it is the world’s largest satellite constellation, with more than 1,700 satellites launched to date. Starlink aims to build an interconnected internet network with thousands of satellites to deliver high-speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable or completely unavailable.

Starlink’s satellites are over 60 times closer to Earth than traditional satellites resulting in lower latency. The company has been taking preorders for post-beta service of Starlink and said that “over half a million people have placed an order or put down a deposit for Starlink.”

What you should know

SpaceX opened its public beta test in October 2020 for select consumers at a $99 monthly fee. SpaceX has shipped 100,000 Starlink terminals which include satellite dishes, Wi-Fi routers to users in 14 countries. Starlink plans to sell its internet service to consumers in rural areas around the world at 100Mbps download and 20Mbps upload speeds.

SpaceX said it is working to pursue all necessary licenses needed to bring the Starlink Satellite internet services to Nigeria.