Is Starlink eating rural NZ?
About this episode
The episode discusses the impact of Starlink on rural broadband in New Zealand and the concerns raised by local internet providers.
Starlink has quickly become the hero – and potential hazard – of rural broadband in New Zealand. In a few short years, Elon Musk’s low-Earth orbit satellite service has gone from curiosity to default option for many farms, small towns and remote communities that never made it onto the fibre map. It’s racked up 58,000 subscribers and generated around $100 million in revenue last year, delivering broadband access via satellite with a self-install version that has amassed many raving fans. In a country where the “last 5–10%” of connections have always been the hardest and most expensive, Starlink looks like the magic bullet. But in the latest episode of The Business of Tech podcast, Alex Stewart – the 21-year-old founder of Greater Wellington wireless ISP WombatNET – suggests we risk ceding sovereignty to one or two US companies when it comes to rural connectivity. Stewart’s company is one of dozens of small, regional wireless internet providers that have spent the past decade building towers, stitching together backhaul and hand-holding customers who were too far from the cabinet, tower or fibre trench to interest…
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