Elon Musk's Starlink goes live in Bahrain

Satellite internet service awaits regulatory approval in UAE and Saudi Arabia

A SpaceX rocket carrying Starlink satellites after launching from Cape Canaveral in Florida. There are more than 7,100 Starlink satellites in service. Reuters

Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service has been activated in another Middle East and North Africa country, continuing its recent run of providing advanced communications in the region.

The company, a subsidiary of Texas-based SpaceX, said in an X post on Friday that its services have been activated in Bahrain, after Oman in March and Jordan in April.

Bahrain joins Oman, Qatar and Yemen as Middle East countries with access to the service.

Kuwait is also expected to have Starlink’s high-speed, low-latency internet service at some point in 2025, according to Starlink’s website.

The satellite internet service is coming soon in Saudi Arabia's aviation and maritime sectors too, Mr Musk revealed in Riyadh this week, as part of US President Donald Trump's tour of the Gulf.

While it is not available in the UAE, Starlink in 2023 had teamed up with Dubai-based marine electronics company Elcome International to provide internet services to the maritime industry.

The kingdom and the Emirates are listed as "pending regulatory approval", according to Starlink's website.

Starlink is hastening its growth as it pushes to gain a bigger foothold of the market and try to fend off rising competition.

What is Starlink?

Starlink is a satellite constellation service that provides internet access using satellites that orbit the planet at between heights of 200km and 2,000km.

For perspective, the International Space Station is at 408km, while Hubble Space Telescope is at 547km.

The service provides high-speed, low-latency broadband internet. Within each coverage area, orders are fulfilled on a first-come, first-served basis.

How fast is Starlink?

Starlink users "typically experience" download speeds between 25 and 220Mbps, with a majority of users experiencing speeds over 100Mbps, according to its website.

The company intends to reach speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second.

Latest figures show that there are more than 7,100 Starlink satellites in service − with the company aiming for a total of 42,000.

The launch of more satellites and fine-tuning of the service is expected to increase speeds further.

How does satellite internet differ from 5G service?

To have access to the internet using a 5G connection − or any broadband connection − you need to be within range of a cell tower. The closer you are, the better and faster your connection should be.

With a satellite, you can gain access to the internet, even in the middle of nowhere.

And, in terms of speed, this is a no-contest as 5G, which is up to 20 times faster than 4G, can provide download speeds of anywhere between 1Gbps to 10Gbps, depending on how close you are to a cell tower.

Starlink's planned top speed is at the low end of 5G at this point.

How much is a Starlink subscription?

Starlink has two main subscription categories: personal and business.

Based on US pricing, under personal, there's residential, with monthly plans at $80 and $120, and roam, costing $50 and $165 for unlimited data.

In business, the local priority tier ranges from $65 to $540, while the top-tier global priority – "best for maritime and global connectivity" – starts at $250 and tops out at $2,150.

These fees are in addition to hardware costs – routers, cables, etc. – which start at $349.

Does Starlink have any competitors?

Yes. In the US, it is up against Viasat and HughesNet, both veterans in the industry, having been founded in 1986 and 1971, respectively.

And, of course, there's Amazon, whose founder Jeff Bezos has been challenging Mr Musk in the space race.

In its latest move, Mr Bezos launched the first 27 internet satellites of Amazon's Project Kuiper constellation in April.