Ukrainian railway operator says Starlink internet to be available on all trains by year-end

Satellite internet access provided by Starlink will be available on all Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian Railways) trains by the end of 2022.

Ukraine’s Special Communication and Information Protection State Service chief Yurii Shchyhol announced this in an interview with Liga.Tech, Ukrinform reports.

The official said that Ukrzaliznytsia has already run the pilot project by installing Starlink transceivers on certain trains.

Yurii Shchyhol said that Ukrainian experts shared test results with Starlink technical team. "Even they were surprised that we were able to use Starlink in this way. According to its technical features, it is not supposed to operate at such speeds. But it does work," said the Special Communication and Information Protection head.

According to Ukrinform, operations of over 3,000 base stations of mobile network operators have been completely or partially suspended in Ukraine due to the ongoing war, while over 20% of the telecommunications infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk helped provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and satellite internet access. He also handed over to Ukraine a number of Tesla Powerwall stations.

On June 9, Starlink Ukraine was granted an operator's license.