In case you’re searching for updates on Starlink’s enlargement, you should know the way this satellite tv for pc broadband supplier is making speedy inroads in Oceania.
As of November 2025, Starlink’s providers are reside in additional than a dozen international locations and abroad territories in Oceania, giving it near-ubiquitous protection of the area.
One of the compelling elements of Starlink’s service is its means to ship high-speed, low-latency connectivity.
Beforehand, satellite tv for pc web providers got here from single geostationary satellites that orbit the planet at 35,786 km. Against this, Starlink has a constellation of 1000’s of satellites orbiting the planet a lot nearer to Earth—at round 550 km—delivering far decrease latency.
Its high-speed, low-latency providers are helpful in a area the place many rural localities have poor or non-existent fastened and/or cell community connectivity. Starlink has additionally highlighted its potential as a backup community throughout pure disasters, and this has been very a lot in proof in Oceania.
Fast Background on Starlink
SpaceX launched its first 60 Starlink low earth orbit satellites in Could 2019. Starlink began offering a beta service in October 2020 and went reside one yr later. It hit the a million subscription mark in December 2022, earlier than reaching two million in September 2023, three million in Could 2024, 4 million in September 2024 and 5 million in March 2025. Most just lately, the corporate introduced that it had handed the seven million subscriptions milestone in August 2025.
Based on astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell’s satellite tv for pc tracker, as of early November 2025, there have been 8,837 satellites in orbit, with 7,559 in “operational orbit.”
Starlink is optimistic of ultimately rising its mega-constellation to greater than 44,988 satellites.
Starlink in Australia and New Zealand
Starlink launched in Australia in April 2021, providing a trial model of its service in northern Victoria and southern New South Wales (NSW). Within the following months it initially centered on serving ‘low and distant density areas’ however, having progressively enhanced protection all through 2022, in November that yr the operator was reported to have achieved nationwide protection.
July 2023 additionally noticed Starlink and Optus strike a deal to ship cell connectivity utilizing the previous’s satellite tv for pc constellation, with a view to extending protection to ‘100% of Australia’. Via its settlement with SpaceX, Optus stated it might work to broaden the attain of consumers’ cell connectivity to incorporate the 60% of Australia’s territory missing cell protection, with this to be achieved by means of a phased rollout of SpaceX’s satellite tv for pc functionality.
Within the occasion, nonetheless, Optus was crushed to the punch by chief rival Telstra. In January 2025 it was introduced that Telstra and Starlink would collaborate on bringing satellite-to-mobile (direct-to-handset) textual content messaging to the telco’s cell prospects and a industrial launch of such providers was confirmed in June 2025.
In February 2023 Starlink reached the 100,000 subscriptions milestone in Australia, occurring to achieve 200,000 in March 2024. TeleGeography estimates that Starlink now has effectively over 300,000 subscriptions on its books.
The corporate started taking pre-orders in neighbouring New Zealand in February 2021 and went on to launch providers later that yr, with availability initially restricted to solely a restricted variety of customers per protection space on a primary come, first served foundation. The satellite tv for pc service expands the choices out there to rural shoppers not related to the nation’s Extremely-Quick Broadband (UFB) community, notably in these areas the place, attributable to restricted capability, there’s a ready record for fastened wi-fi broadband providers supplied underneath the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI) program.
Providing obtain speeds nearly 5 occasions quicker than competing 4G-based fastened wi-fi connections, Starlink has been described as a ‘disruptive’ power within the rural market by the telecoms regulator, the Commerce Fee. This affect is mirrored in its speedy subscriber development, which climbed from roughly 11,000 in mid-2022 to roughly 58,000 by June 2024. TeleGeography estimates the determine had risen to 86,500 by 30 September 2025.
Pacific Energy-Participant?
Whereas getting its service up and working in Australia and New Zealand was Starlink’s undoubted precedence, the corporate has additionally pursued alternatives throughout the Pacific area – extending its providers to a number of territories in fast succession.
Certainly, the corporate has even deployed Group Gateways in Nauru and Kosrae (a state within the Federated States of Micronesia). Starlink describes the services as follows: ‘With Group Gateways, Starlink satellites are in a position to ship fiber-like speeds with native suppliers distributing connectivity to houses, companies, and governments utilizing last-mile fiber, fastened wi-fi and cell wi-fi. The Group Gateway visitors transits by means of Starlink’s world laser mesh community and makes use of our excessive bandwidth Gateways working in a devoted Ka spectrum band.’
Nauru’s Gateway—reportedly the primary within the Pacific —went reside in December 2024, and Kosrae’s Gateway went reside in February 2025.
Elsewhere within the Pacific, Starlink can be up and working within the likes of American Samoa, the Prepare dinner Islands, Fiji, Guam, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
Starlink in Catastrophe Zones
As talked about earlier, Starlink has positioned itself as a key participant when it comes to catastrophe communications, particularly in areas the place submarine cables are vulnerable to pure disasters.
In July 2024 Tonga’s Ministry of Meteorology, Power, Data, Catastrophe Administration, Atmosphere and Local weather Change granted Starlink a short lived allow to offer providers within the Pacific nation. The authorities had beforehand ordered Starlink to disable entry by roaming prospects utilizing illegally imported terminals following earthquake injury to the Tonga Home Cable Extension (TDCE), which has disrupted broadband providers on the islands of Vava’u and Ha’apai since 29 June that yr. Within the occasion, Starlink’s license in Tonga was made official in December 2024.
Instantly after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck Vanuatu in December 2024, inflicting an outage of the nation’s sole submarine cable, the Interchange Cable Community 1 (ICN1), Starlink referred to as upon to take care of communication hyperlinks. As conventional broadband entry failed, greater than 300 Starlink items have been rapidly deployed, restoring connectivity for residents, companies and emergency providers. Certainly, the Vanuatu Enterprise Resilience Council (VBRC) famous that it secured Starlink tools to revive communications for the Nationwide Catastrophe Administration Workplace (NDMO).
Useless Air: Starlink Stand-Offs
Regardless of Starlink having fun with a heat welcome in most territories, it has acquired pushback from a variety of governments, who’ve been reluctant to disrupt the established order.
In July 2023 the Nationwide Data and Communications Know-how Authority (NICTA) in Papua New Guinea issued a public assertion objecting to the unauthorised utilization of Starlink terminals within the nation.
Confusingly, NICTA went on to grant Starlink a licence in December 2023, just for the Ombudsman Fee to intervene and halt the licensing course of. In January 2025 the topic of Starlink’s licensing went earlier than the courts.
Elsewhere, France’s most distant Pacific territory Wallis and Futuna is considered one of a handful of areas which can be nonetheless technically off-limits for Starlink. Nevertheless, residents are eager to determine a workaround. Senator Mikaele Kulimoetoke, the previous president of the Wallisian Territorial Meeting, informed Le Monde: “Folks have purchased the Starlink connection package right here in France, as a result of it is cheaper, and put in it efficiently. … And since France has stated sure to Starlink on its territory, I am unable to see myself supporting a banning determination in Wallis that’s more likely to turn out to be ridiculous over time.”
French Polynesia (an abroad collectivity of France) and New Caledonia (a sui generis collectivity of France) are additionally conspicuous by their absence on Starlink’s record of markets the place its providers are commercially out there.
Over within the western Pacific Ocean the federal government of Palau says it has no plans to authorise using Starlink terminals any time quickly.
Lastly, in Niue, the federal government has banned using Starlink, warning customers of fines or imprisonment for unauthorised use. The individuals utilizing Starlink on the island reportedly bought their items from shops in New Zealand, with Starlink declining requests to geo-block Niue-based connectivity. Fellow satellite tv for pc supplier Kacific continues to function legally on the island.
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