Rural businesses and households throughout Perthshire now have the chance to tap into high-speed broadband thanks to technology funded by the world’s richest man.
Thousands of rural residents have been unable to access high-speed internet access, primarily because of where they live.
But Starlink, the satellite technology firm set up by entrepreneur Elon Musk, is now available to rural Perthshire residents.
Musk, whose net worth is estimated at more than $265 billion, is best known as co-founder of Tesla.
But another of his business ventures is SpaceX, which designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft.
‘A game changer’ for rural communities
A division of SpaceX is Starlink, which provides faster internet speeds to remote communities.
Perthshire IT business Flonix has now installed dozens of Starlink systems.
Its managing director Daniel Lamb said: “Many people have been unable to get high-speed internet access purely because of where they live, but the advent of Starlink means this is now possible.
“It’s a real game changer.”
Mr Lamb said interest so far had come from mainly businesses, partly because of the purchase price of almost £500 and £90 monthly payments.
“It’s mainly business people in rural locations that have not been able to access high-speed connectivity, but there have even been blackspots in towns and cities,” he said.
One of Flonix’s customers is Perth-based Glenalmond Timber.
The Shore Road business struggled with a poor internet connection for years, but after Flonix installed a Starlink system it began to see immediate results.
Glenalmond Timber director Fraser Steele said: “It has been totally transformative for us.
“It’s been a life changer for our business and Flonix assisted with add-ons to allow us to remotely access our servers via the Cloud.”
Plan for superfast internet across Scotland
The Scottish Government had pledged to deliver superfast broadband coverage to every home and business by 2021.
But as things stand 5% of premises, many in extremely remote rural areas, are not catered for.
Audit Scotland forecasts that some households and businesses could continue to miss out on a reliable connection until 2026/27.
The Starlink network currently has around 2,600 low earth orbits (LEOs) 500-2000km from earth in orbit.
Mr Lamb said: “They have just expanded their availability to cover the Highlands and Orkney.
“There is virtually no area in Scotland now that can’t get high-speed internet access.
“For rural businesses, many of whom decided to move out of towns and cities during lockdown, this is really good news.”
Conversation